! 




HISTORY 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



A COMPENDIOUS AND POPULAR SKETCH 

OP THE 

RISE AND PROGRESS 

OF THE 

PRINCIPAL MONASTIC, CANONICAL, MILITARY, MENDICANT, AND CLERICAL 
ORDERS AND CONGREGATIONS OE THE EASTERN AND 
WESTERN CHURCHES, 

TOGETHER WITH 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN RELATION TO RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



BY 

REV. CHARLES WARREN CURRIER. 




MURPHY & MCCARTHY, 
PUBLISHERS. 

1 8 9 4. 



IWbtt ©bstat : 

D. J. McMAHON, 

Censor Deputatus. 



imprimatur: 

* MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, 

Archbishop of New York. 



Copyright 1894. 

murphy & McCarthy. 



ELECTEOTYPED AT1> PRINTED 
JLT THE N. T. CATHOLIC PROTECTORY, 

WEST CHESTER. TT. Y. 



NOT TO AN INHABITANT OF THIS VALE OF TEARS, 
BUT TO YOU, 
SAINTLY MEN AND WOMEN, 
WHO, LED BY GOD'S UNERRING HAND, 
LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF 

IReltgious ©rDers: 

BASIL, BENEDICT, FRANCIS, DOMINIC, IGNATIUS, ALPHONSUS, 
TERESA, AND ALL HOLY FOUNDERS 
WHO NOW, 
FROM THE CELESTIAL JERUSALEM, 
BEHOLD 

THE WONDERFUL WORKS YOU HAVE WROUGHT, 
THIS MODEST WORK 
IS HUMBLY DEDICATED 
BY 

The Author. 



PREFACE. 



IT cannot be denied that vast interest attaches to those men and 
women who, living in the world, are not of the world, but who pro- 
fess a life utterly distinct from that of worldlings, a life of entire con- 
secration to the service of God. Their very dress shows them to be 
of a separate order of human beings. Many of them live entirely se- 
cluded, being known to most people only in name, while others enter 
into daily , yea hourly, contact with the world. The habit of the Car- 
tnusian has been seen by few, while most persons are familiar with the 
white bonnet of the Sisters of Charity. Not many come into contact 
with the Trappists, but the Jesuit is known to all. And yet these per- 
sons, Carthusians and Sisters of Charity, Trappists and Jesuits, are 
members of an institution actuated by one principle, that of the prac- 
tice of the evangelical counsels. We say: members of an institution, 
for though they belong to various orders, they are ascetics, or persons 
striving for perfection. Though not all monks, nor all, strictly speak- 
ing, religious, yet their object is common and their methods, more or 
less, similar. It is of these men and women, imitating the example of 
many predecessors, that we propose to write a compendious his- 
tory. The task would have been entirely beyond our strength, but for 
the work of the illustrious writer, to whom we here express our indebt- 
edness. It is from Helyot's History of Religious Orders that we have 
gathered most of our material. The idea of this work first presented it- 
self to our mind, without assuming definite shape, in a conversation we 
had with a member of a well-known Catholic publishing house in this 
country. It remained merely a germ for several years, when circum- 
stances contributed towards its development. 

We had prepared for the press a large manuscript on controversial 
subjects, but it failed to obtain the authorization of our superiors, and 
it has never seen the light. Disappointed in this matter, we conversed 
with our publisher on the subject, when the thought of writing a his- 
tory of religious orders again occurred to us. The publisher, fore- 
seeing the utility of such a work, readily grasped the idea. Never 
would we have dreamt of it, had we not been acquainted with the 
writings of Helyot, for we well knew that it would, otherwise, have 
been the labor of a lifetime. It was the knowledge of the difficulties. 

iii. 



iv. 



PREFACE. 



connected with this undertaking which, probably, caused our superi- 
ors to hesitate giving their permission for its publication. Neverthe- 
less the work was begun. Having been released from our obligations 
toward the religious congregation to which we had thus far belonged, 
we were enabled to continue it with greater freedom, though in the 
midst of many distracting occupations. We acknowledge its defi- 
ciency, though we console ourselves with the thought that we have not 
written a work for the learned, but one of general information for the 
people, to whom we hope it will be useful. 

Those who desire to make a study of religious orders will find an 
inexhaustible literature on the subject and works too numerous to 
mention. The religious state has been the theme of the most illustri- 
ous pens. St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, St. John Climacus, Rufinus, 
Palladius, Theodoret, and many others among the ancients, devoted 
their time to portions of its history. Their example was followed by 
countless other writers. Middendorp, rector of the university of 
Cologne, wrote the " History of Monastic Orders/' the Jesuit, Paul 
Morigia, published, in 1569,' a history of all orders, and Sylvester Ma- 
rule, a Cistercian, did likewise, in 1 61.3. Father Bonanni, of the Soci- 
ety of Jesus, gave to the world a History of Religious Orders in 1706. 
Not only Catholics, but also Protestants, used their pen for the same 
purpose, some in a hostile, others in a more favorable spirit. Dod- 
wold and Dugdale published a history of the monasteries of England 
in their Monasticon Anglicanum, while Archdall did the same for Ire- 
land. Another history of religious orders in Ireland was published in 
French in 1690 by Alleman. The most elaborate and the most impor- 
tant of all these works is, however, that of Helyot, which has been 
our guide throughout. It was first published anonymously, and the 
first volume appeared in 1714. It soon transpired, however, that the 
author was Father Hippolytus of the order of Picpus, better known by 
his family name of Helyot. 

The work of Helyot is divided into six parts. In the first, the author 
treats of all those religious who follow the rule of St. Anthony and 
St. Basil, and of the monks of the East. The second part is devoted 
to the Canons Regular of St. Augustin, and the third to all other re- 
ligious who observe the rule of the same holy Doctor. In the fourth 
part the monks and religious of the rule of St. Benedict form the sub- 
ject. The fifth part of the work is devoted to those who profess the 
rule of St. Francis, and those who follow special rules of their own. 
The sixth part comprises all secular congregations and all orders of 
knighthood belonging to no religious order. This work of Helyot 
was reedited by the well-known publisher, Migne, in the form of a 



PREFACE. v. 

dictionary, in which the orders are arranged alphabetically. It is this 
latter work, with its additions and corrections, that we have used. 
We have deviated from the order of Helyot and have classified the 
orders according to the special branches of the religious state to which 
they belong, independently of the rule they follow. 

The first part of our work contains a number of general reflections 
on the monastic state. Thus we treat in it of monastic rules and vows, 
monastic labors, the government of monasteries, the monastic habit, 
and other kindred subjects. These reflections are preceded by a brief 
sketch of the history of the Church. 

Religious devoted principally to a life of seclusion in a monastery, hav- 
ing as special object their own sanctification, and leading a life purely 
contemplative, are called monks. These, nearly all, follow the rules of 
St. Basil and St. Benedict. The Carthusians, who are also monks, ob- 
serve a special rule of their own. Though the term monk is frequently 
applied to all religious, it, by right, belongs only to those here mentioned. 
All monks are religious, but not all religious are monks. To the 
monks the second part of this work is devoted. 

Another class of religious in the Church consists of those who, from 
their origin, were clerics, thus differing from the monks who, in the 
beginning were, nearly all, laymen. Their object is the recitation of 
the canonical hours, and the leading of a sacerdotal life according to 
the spirit of apostolic times. They generally follow the rule of St. 
Augustin, and bear the name of Canons Regular. We treat of them 
in the third portion of our work. 

A very interesting branch of religious orders is that of which the 
object was the defence of the faith by force of arms. We mean the 
military orders. Though some of them professed the rules of St. 
Benedict or St. Augustin, they nevertheless belonged to a special class, 
and, as such, they form the subject of the fourth part. 

With St. Francis and St. Dominic, the mendicant or beggar orders 
began. The practice of evangelical poverty, in its strictest interpreta- 
tion, became their portion, while they, at the same time, devoted them- 
selves to the works of the ministry, leading the lives of monks at home, 
and of apostles abroad. To these the fifth part of our work is devoted. 

In the sixteenth century, St. Cajetan of Theate, founded an order of 
clerics with the object of renewing the spirit of the apostles among 
the clergy. They were called Regular Clerics, and mairy similar or- 
ders were established, foremost among whom are the Jesuits. They, 
in many respects, resemble the Regular Canons without it being essen- 
tially necessary for them to recite the Divine Office in choir. The 
sixth part of the work treats of Regular Clerics. 



PREFACE. 



In modern times numberless religious congregations have been 
founded in which the members bind themselves only by simple vows. 
To religious congregations of men, and kindred female congregations, 
we have devoted the seventh part of our book. 

The eighth part treats of those female congregations with simple 
vows which are affiliated to no special order or congregation. 

Finally, in the ninth part, we have chosen as our subject those con- 
gregations which are entirely secular, their members not being bound 
by the three vows of religion. 

We have said that Helyot has been our guide, but our citations will 
show that we had, also, to look elsewhere for information. In some 
cases, it was necessary to apply to the orders themselves. In most 
instances we found courtesy and willingness to assist us, but, in others, 
our letters were left unanswered. Everyone will easily understand 
that the only alternative left us, was silence. We have, however, the 
consolation of knowing that all the orders of importance have received, 
at least, a small share of our attention. If any have been omitted, it 
was for want of sufficient data, or because the limits of this work did 
not permit us to include all existing religious institutions, especially 
those which are comparatively little known to our readers. 

In case we have inadvertently fallen into historical errors, or not 
done justice to one or the other religious body, all observations made 
to us will be most thankfully received, and, in a future edition, made 
use of to retract whatever mis-statement has found its way into these 
pages. 

May the work we now send forth to the world perform its mission 
for the greater glory of God ! We believe that it fills a void in Eng- 
lish Catholic literature. 

Reader, though to the writer you be unknown, and perhaps, you 
never shall meet him, allow him to request of you a slight recompense 
for his labors. When }'Ou open this volume, kindly remember him in 
an ejaculation to the Throne of Mercy, and, if you are clothed with 
sacerdotal dignity, grant him one Memento at the altar. Should it 
come to your notice, that the hand which now pens these lines, lies 
lifeless in the grave, then, in your charity, remember the soul of 

The Author. 

St. Joseph 's, Belair Road, Baltimore Co., Md., March 4, 1894. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE religious state is defined r A fixed and permanent mode of 
life of the faithful striving for the perfection of divine charity, who 
take the three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in an insti- 
tute approved by the Church in submission to a common rule. Although 
it is the will of God that all men become perfect, in so far as 
the perfect observance of His commandments and the precepts of 
the Church are concerned, He does not, however, demand that all 
observe His counsels. Those who live in the simple observance of the 
commandments, without binding themselves by any higher obligations, 
belong to the secular condition. Persons of this class may, occasion- 
ally, observe the evangelical counsels even in a more rigid manner than 
religious, but this does not render them religious, as they do not be- 
long to a state in which the observance of the counsels is obligatory. 
Even if they bind themselves to the practice of the counsels by vows, 
they are no more than seculars, for to be a religious it is required 
that the vows should be taken in an institute approved by the Church. 
For this reason the religious institution is called a state, a condition of 
stability, for as those who embrace a clerical life or the matrimonial- 
condition bind themselves to something lasting, thus do religious take 
upon themselves the obligation of striving for perfection. 

The means made use of by religious for the acquirement of per- 
fection is the observance of the counsels. It is certain by faith, that 
there are counsels, not obligator} 7 on all Christians, taught us by the 
Holy Gospels. We read in St. Matthew 1 that a man once asked of 
Jesus the following question: " Good Master, what good shall I do 
that I may have life everlasting ? " The answer was : " If thou wilt 
enter into life, keep the commandments." This is the precept imposed 
upon all Christians. But as the young man replied that he had kept 
the commandments from his youth, Jesus said to him : " If thou wilt 
be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
have a treasure in heaven ; and come, follow Me." Interpreters of 
Scripture see in these words the recommendation of the three counsels 
of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The advice to sell all and give to 
the poor plainly inculcates poverty, that of following Christ includes 
1 Chap. xix. 16. 

vii. 



viii. 



INTRODUCTION. 



the counsel of perfect chastity and obedience which were necessary 
to the following of Jesus during His earthly life, for matrimony would 
have been an obstacle, and obedience, it is clear, was necessary. The 
counsel of chastity was still more explicitly inculcated on one occa- 
sion, when Jesus, having asserted the indissolubility of matrimony, His 
disciples said to Him : " If the case of a man with his wife be so, it 
is not expedient to marry," 1 Jesusanswered: " All men take not this 
word, but they to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs, who have 
made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can 
take, let him take." 

From the earliest ages of the Church, there have been persons, who, 
taking the words of Christ literally, have devoted themselves to the 
practice of the evangelical counsels. These were by degrees united 
into societies, and thus the religious state was gradually developed. 
From what has been said, it appears evident that the end of the relig- 
ious state is the acquisition of perfection. For that reason it is called 
the state of perfection to be acquired. It follows from this that a relig- 
ious is not bound to be perfect, but that, in virtue of his state, he is 
obliged under pain of grievous sin to strive constantly for perfection, 
and not to desist. A religious, therefore, who by word or deed, would 
cease to strive for the perfection of his state, would be grievously guilty. 

Besides this general end, which is common to all religious bodies, 
the religious state may, also, possess a secondary or accidental object, 
such as the promotion of man's salvation, and works of charity. 

The essence of the religious state consists in the three perpetual 
vows of poverty, chastity, and odedience, taken in an institute ap- 
proved by the Church. As we shall have to make frequent mention dur- 
ing the course of this work of the approbation of the Holy See, it is well 
to state here the various kinds of approbation which are granted to 
religious orders and congregations. * In the first place, an order may 
be solemnly and definitively approved. This is the highest form of ap- 
probation, and it can only be given by the Sovereign Pontiff. Then 
there is the approbation of commendation, in which an order is not de- 
finitively approved, but in which it receives the praise of the Church. 
Finally, the Church may permit the existence of an institute without 
positively approving it. The simple approbation of a bishop, though 
it gives a society an ecclesiastical existence, can never raise it to the 
dignity of a religious order. The first approbation is that given to 
strictly religious orders, while congregations generally receive the sec- 
ond form. Here it becomes necessary to point out the distinction 
which exists between orders and congregations. The former are re- 

1 Matthew xix. 10. 



IN TROD UGT10N. 



ix. 



ligious societies which have received the definitive and solemn appro- 
bation of the Church. As a general rule the members of these socie- 
ties take solemn vows. That there is a difference between the solemn 
and the simple vow, all admit, but there is great diversity of opinion 
as to wherein precisely this difference consists. Taking the various 
opinions into consideration, we may conclude that a solemn vow is 
that which is irrevocably binding, both on the part of the one who 
takes it, and on the part of the Church, so that only the Sovereign Pon- 
tiff may dispense in it, and that, only for the gravest reasons. The sol- 
emn vow, also, by its nature, produces certain effects; thus the solemn 
vow of poverty renders the one who takes it incapable of possessing ; 
that of chastity renders matrimony not only illicit, but also invalid. 

It may be asked : is the solemn vow absolutely required to constitute a 
religious ? The answer is, that, theologically speaking and before God, 
the simple vow suffices, as Gregory XIII. declared in the case of those 
members of the Society of Jesus who are bound only by simple vows. 

It will appear during the course of this work that nearly all the or- 
ders founded until the beginning of the sixteenth century, were those 
in which solemn vows were taken, and in which they have continued 
to exist. To these belong the various orders of monks, regular canons, 
knights and friars, and their female branches. In the Society of Jesus 
a new departure was taken, and only a certain number of its members 
were admitted to the solemn vows. Thus the Jesuits form, as it were, 
a transition between the orders of the Middle Ages and the congre- 
gations of modern times. The tendency among the latter has been 
toward the simple vows. In fact, a change has recently taken place, 
even in regard to the older orders. On March 19th, 1857, Pius IX. 
decreed that in those orders in which solemn vows are taken, the nov- 
ices, at their profession, must be admitted only to the simple vows. 
After three years, counting from the day on which they bound them- 
selves by simple vows, they are admitted to their solemn profession. 
These simple vows are, however, perpetual on the part of the one 
who takes them, and they can be dispensed in only by the Sovereign 
Pontiff, though the persons thus bound may be dismissed by the su- 
periors of the orders for grave reasons, and, in that case, they are re- 
leased from their vows. 

By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars 
of September 3d, 1864, female religious in this country take only sim- 
ple vows, with the exception of a few monasteries of the Order of the 
Visitation. 1 A similar regulation exists in some other countries, for 
instance, in France. 

1 See Carmel in America, p. 274. — Currier. 



X. 



IN TROD UCTION. 



That there is a special vocation by which some persons are called 
by Divine Providence, to consecrate themselves to God in the relig- 
ious state, is generally admitted, and Christ Himself insinuates this in 
the words : " All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given." 1 
This vocation, according to the teaching of theologians, consists in an 
internal as well as external aptitude for the duties of religious life, and 
itisa supernatural inclination to embrace that state. Hence, if a person 
in whose way no insurmountable obstacle exists, and who possesses the 
qualities of body and soul required for the fulfilment of the duties of 
a religious, experiences an impulse for that holy state, based upon a su- 
pernatural motive, he may consider himself called to it. As it is sin- 
ful to enter religion without this vocation, thus is it exceedingly dan- 
gerous, on the other hand, to resist the call of God. A person who 
knowingly resists the will of God in a matter of such importance, ex- 
poses himself to the loss of many graces, and even to the risk of losing 
his soul, 
i Matthew xix. II. 



P/VRT |. 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



A Brief History of the Church with regard to Religious Orders. 



FOUNDATION OF THE MONASTIC STATE. — MONKS OF THE DESERT- 
ORDERS OF ST. BASIL AND ST. BENEDICT.— REGULAR CANONS. — THE 
CRUSADES. — MILITARY ORDERS. — THE MENDICANTS. — MEDLEVAL 
MONKS. — THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST. — THE PROTESTANT 
REFORMATION.— REGULAR CLERICS.— THE JESUITS. — RELIGIOUS 
CONGREGATIONS. 



HE Divine Redeemer of mankind, Jesus the Messias, to whom the 



patriarchs, and the prophets of the Old Testament had looked 
forward with anxious expectation, was born in Bethlehem of Juda 
about the year of the world 4004. The Son of David came unto His 
own, but His own received Him not. They refused to understand the 
signs by which they might have recognized the Prophet whom Moses 
had promised to their fathers, and they put to death the one who had 
come to save them. The life of Jesus until His death was one of self- 
immolation, so that His example laid particular stress upon those 
words which became the great lesson of the saints : " If any man will 
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow 
Me." 1 The life of the Christian, like that of the Christ, was to be one of 
self-denial, and the life of the perfect Christian, one of perfect self- 
denial. The words in which this great lesson is conveyed *form the 
very essence of the Christian's life, as well as the core and heart of 
Christianity itself. Christ, we say, confirmed it by His example, and 
set the. final seal upon it on the day when His mangled body hung life- 
less upon Golgotha's sacred wood. If we follow the history of the 
Church, we shall behold it put into practice from Apostolic times 
until now, and only those children of the Church partaking of 
Christ's sanctity who have learned that great lesson of self-denial. 
1 Luke ix. 23. 




2 



HISTORY OF REL1G10 US ORDERS. 



To enforce the practice of that which was so necessary to salvation, 
and to render it comparatively easy, the Saviour became the Founder 
of a society to which all mankind was called in virtue of the divine 
commission given to the apostles of teaching all nations. The mem- 
bers of. this society were all to be followers of Christ, and, with St. 
Paul, to imitate their Divine Model. But there are various degrees 
in this imitation, nor do all seem capable of practising it to the same 
extent, and, for this reason, we find not only differences of sanctity 
and perfection in individuals, but also in different classes of Christians. 
The great practice of sanctity manifests itself in various ways, 
in different epochs and countries. To understand the reason of this, 
we must bear in mind that there is in humanity and in human society 
a twofold element : the natural and the supernatural ; the former con- 
stituting the basis of the latter, one ascending from the earth, the 
other descending from above, and the union of the two constituting 
the union of the human with the divine. If we bear this twofold 
element in view, we shall never be scandalized by what will appear 
too human in the Church and its subordinate societies. Were this hu- 
man element entirely conquered by the divine, were it perfect, it 
would never require to be thwarted. But, to our great misfortune, it 
has a downward tendency, and, therefore, needs to be constantly 
drawn upwards, in order to be brought into conformity with the 
divine. Hence arises the necessity of self-denial, and of that Christian 
philosophy embodied in the words of Christ : " If any one will come 
after Me, let him deny himself." 

Hardly had the Divine Teacher ascended to heaven and the Spirit 
of Truth, the Paraclete, taken His place on Pentecost, than the 
infant Church began to practise the great lesson it had learned, to 
practise it even unto the heroism of martyrdom. But alas, for hu- 
man inconstancy and the downward tendency of human nature ! Even 
in the days of its first fervor, there were evils in the Church, as we 
learn from the Epistles of St. Paul, from the Apocalypse, and from 
other sources. And that first fervor itself did not last, at least not 
through all ranks of Christian society. But what else could be ex- 
pected ? Was there not to be a constant struggle between light and 
darkness? This struggle we shall find again and again as we advance 
in the history of the religious orders. Let us bear constantly in mind 
that, besides the divine element, there is, also, a human side to the 
Church, and we shall be prepared for anything ; nothing shall startle 
us, no matter where we observe it. 

We shall find, as we proceed, that the first fervor of the early 
Christians never entirely ceased, not even in the most dissolute times. 




CELTIC CROSS. 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



3 



When it had become less general among Christians at large, the prac- 
tice of perfection withdrew to the deserts and the cloisters, and, when 
relaxation of discipline had crept even into those asylums of virtue, 
some were always found who still fought valiantly under the banner 
of self-denial. 

Christ had preached as necessary for all men the strict observance 
of the commandments, but He assured the world that there was a higher 
perfection, the abandoning of one' s earthly possessions for instance. 
His words were taken literally by His early disciples, for they sold 
what they had and laid the price, of it at the feet of the apostles. 
Even from apostolic times it became customary to abstain, for virtue's 
sake, from things which were good in themselves, but, not being 
absolutely necessary, were for some a hindrance to higher perfec- 
tion. Thus we may say that Our Divine Teacher sowed the seed of 
the religious life, which, in apostolic times, began to make its first 
appearance, and which was gradually developed. This same relig- 
ious life had been prepared in the Old Testament, for the Essenes, a 
sect among the Jews, probably the successors of the disciples of 
Elias and Eliseus, had followed a mode of life very similar to that 
of our Christian religious, and, if Baronius is correct, this institution 
flourished under a Christian form at. Alexandria in Egypt, when St. 
Mark the Evangelist was Bishop of that city. We are thus enabled 
to trace monasticism to the very dawn of Christianity and beyond 
it. It would even seem that there is something in a philosophic creed 
which requires its existence, for the philosophy of ancient Greece, 
Buddhism in India, and Mahometanism throughout the East have not 
been without it. 

The first centuries of the Church were those of the great struggle 
for existence, when the blood of Martyrs flowed by torrents. All the 
apostles, with the exception of St. John, gave their blood for the faith. 
Butthe blood of martyrs became the seed of Christians, and the Church 
progressed in spite of the fury of the Roman emperors. Nero, Domi- 
tian, and Trajan in the first century ; Marcus Aurelius, and Septimus 
Severus in the second ; Maximimus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, Dio- 
cletian, and Maximian in the third, stand inscribed with letters of blood 
on the pages of history as having been the great persecutors of the 
early Christian Church. While fire and the sword were doing their 
deadly work throughout the Roman Empire, men were seeking safe- 
ty for soul and body in the barren deserts of Egypt or the wilder- 
nesses of Palestine. St. Anthony, born in the reign of the Emperor 
Gallus, A. D. 251, touched by the words of Christ: " If thou wilt be 
perfect, go, sell all thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shaft 



4 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



have a treasure in heaven, and then come and follow Me," (Matt, 
xix.), distributed his goods to his neighbors and to the poor, and 
retired into solitude. His example was soon followed by others, 
and he thus laid the foundation of the eremitical life that gave great 
celebrity to Egypt, the land of its birth, the deserts of which were 
soon peopled with holy solitaries. The only rule these men had 
was the living word of their masters in the spiritual life, which 
formed as many commentaries on the Gospel. St. Hilarion, a disci- 
ple of St. Anthony, introduced the same mode of life into Syria and 
Palestine, which, together with Egypt, became the great centres of or- 
iental monasticism. Not only did the male sex thus devote itself to the 
exercises of a perfect life, for Christian women began at the same time 
to withdraw from the world and live together in communities. Ac- 
cording to some authors, St. Syncletica in the fourth century was the 
first one to establish monasteries for women. 

It was about the year 363 that monasticism in the East reached its 
fullest development, when St. Basil composed a rule for his monks 
and bound them by vows. The rule of St. Basil was destined to 
eclipse all those of his predecessors, so that, for this reason, the Saint is 
called the Patriarch of the monks of the East. As an order, the one 
that bears his name is, if not the oldest, at least the most important 
of all the monastic institutions of the Oriental Church. Even before 
St. Basil had composed his rule, monasticism had been carried to the 
West by St. Athanasius, about the year 339, and monasteries were 
built in Rome and elsewhere. The persecutions of the Roman em- 
perors had ceased more than thirty years before with the accession of 
Constantine to the Empire, but the Church was still passing through 
a period of great affliction on account of the Arian heresy, which 
waged a fierce war against it under the Emperor Constantius and his 
brothers. It was this persecution that drove St. Athanasius, Bishop 
of Alexandria, to Rome, and became the means of communicating 
the monastic life to the West. The holy Pope, St. Julius II., was 
then on the See of Peter. St. Basil, the great patriarch of Oriental 
monasticism, lived through the reigns of the Emperors Julian the 
Apostate, Jovian, Valentinian, and Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian II., 
while Pope Liberius was governing the Church. He died in the year 
379. In the same century, the religious life flourished in France, 
and edified the Church by the lives of such men as St. Martin of 
Tours and St. Maximus. Spain, too, had, probably, at that time its 
monks and monasteries. 

St. Pachomius in Egypt had been the first to give a written rule to 
his disciples and to unite several monasteries under one head. To him, 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



5 



also, it may be said the establishment of general chapters is due, 
though in his time they were not known by that name. He 
may thus be considered as the first founder of an order, and if we 
would discover the fountain head of religious orders we must ascend 
to St. Pachomius. We may now sum up in a few words what we 
have said. Ascetics, Therapeutae, or monks existed from the earliest 
days of Christianity. St. Anthony united these into communities 
and became the father of the Cenobites. St. Pachomius gave a rule to 
his disciples and formed his monasteries into a Congregation. St. 
Athanasius introduced monasticism into the West, and St. Basil per- 
fected the institution by imposing vows on his monks, by which it ob- 
tained a greater stability. It had always been considered weakness in 
a monk and infidelity towards God to abandon his state, in order to 
return to the world, but the vow rendered this doubly so. We also 
see from this that it was not the Church itself which established 
monasticism and monastic vows, but that they originated from private 
sources, or rather, they were the logical outcome, and, we may add, 
the necessary result of that desire for perfection which is, more or 
less, inherent in every human breast, and which assumes greater pro- 
portions in some. Monasticism was a legitimate child of faith, a 
necessary evolution in the bosom of Christian society. Though not 
of ecclesiastical origin, the authorities of the Church have, neverthe- 
less, seized upon it as one of their strongest bulwarks, and it has 
gradually assumed an ecclesiastical character. 

About the year 388, St. Augustine began to gather around him a few r 
disciples and to follow with them the exercises of a monastic life. A 
few years later, he established a monastery of nuns at Hippo, of which 
See he was Bishop, and, in 423, addressed to them a letter, which has 
since been known as the Rule of St. Augustine, and has been followed by 
persons of both sexes who acknowledge the Holy Doctor as their 
founder. Two kinds of religious orders, the Regular Canons, and the 
Hermits of St. Augustine, dispute with each other for the right of 
seniority, as both claim St. Augustine for their founder. This much 
appears certain, that the Saint founded and dwelt successively in two 
distinct communities: until he was made Bishop he lived in a monas- 
tery, first, near Tagaste, and, afterwards, in Hippo. When he had been 
promoted to the See of the latter city, he established a community of 
clerics in his episcopal dwelling, in which the life of the first Christians 
wasimitated, and private property was absolutely forbidden. This may 
with probability be considered the origin of the institute of Regular 
Canons. The example of St. Augustine was imitated by many of the Bish- 
ops, and thus the institution increased and flourished in the Church. 



6 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



It was in the first half of the sixth century that the monastic life 
reached its fullest development in the West. The empire of Rome 
had fallen under the repeated blows of the barbarians, and a new or- 
der of things was slowly arising out of chaos and confusion. That 
which was to be, in the designs of Providence, most instrumental in 
producing this effect, and building up mediaeval civilization on the 
ruins of the empire came into existence with the Benedictine Order, 
shortly after the fall of Rome. There was indeed much to be done. 
Northern and Western Europe were to be converted to Christianity, 
barbarians were to be taught the arts of civilization, their manners 
were to be softened down, the lamp of knowledge was to be kept 
burning amidst the gloom of those ages called dark, and the last rem- 
nants of a classic past were to be preserved. All this the Order of 
St. Benedict was destined to effect. His history will be told in that 
of his order; suffice it now to say that he was born in 480, and that 
at an early age he retired to the desert. It was at Monte Casino that 
he laid the foundations of his order. St. Benedict had the institu- 
tions of oriental monasticism to draw from, and the example of his pre- 
decessors to look up to, but these he made so completely his own that 
he fully deserves the title that has been bestowed upon him, that of 
Patriarch of the monks of the West. Though binding his religious 
to a life of contemplation, he nevertheless gives a strong tinge of the 
practical life of the West to his rule. He departs from the extreme 
mysticism of the East, and requires the bodies as well as the minds of 
his monks to be subjected to labor. In this, too, he had his prede- 
cessors in the congregation of St. Pachomius, it is true ; but in the Or- 
der of St. Benedict, labor becomes one of the predominant features. 
The community life is also brought to its highest perfection by St. 
Benedict, for the Benedictine is, above all things, a Cenobite, a man of 
community. The extreme rigor of oriental monasticism is also modi- 
fied in this matter-of-fact, practical order, and accommodated to the 
exigencies of the Western character. Still the Benedictine remains a 
monk, a man of solitude, of contemplation, and of prayer. But his 
work was to go farther than St. Benedict appears to have foreseen, — 
he was to become the salt of the earth and the great factor in mediae- 
val civilization. He was indeed the man of his time, the providential 
man, nor has his mission ceased to the present day. The foundations 
of the Benedictine Order were laid on Monte Casino, but it soon 
spread beyond the Italian peninsula to Sicily, where St. Placidus 
founded a monastery in 534; France, into which country it was in- 
troduced by St. Maurus in 543 ; Spain, where the rule began to 
be observed at least about a century later. It is believed that Eng- 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



7 



land owes its conversion to the Order of St. Benedict, which in 596 
was brought thither by St. Augustine of Canterbury, who was proba- 
bly a monk of that order. The Benedictine monk, St. Willibrord, 
preached the Gospel to the Frisians in 690, and, in the following cen- 
tury, Sr. B'oniface evangelized the Germans, so that in a comparative- 
ly short period the order had spread almost over the whole of Europe. 

While it was performing its grand work of civilization, another in- 
stitution had taken rise, which at one time threatened to become its 
rival. It was that of the Irishman, St. Columbanus, who, about the 
year 590, founded the monastery of Luxeuil in France. Monasticism 
had taken root in Ireland at an early period, and it was flourishing 
when St. Benedict founded his order on Monte Casino. The cele- 
brated monastery of Bangor was an illustrious ornament of the island. 

The rule of St. Benedict, however, triumphed over that of St. Col- 
umbanus, after the death of the latter Saint, and took its place, as we 
shall see in the course of our history. 

About twenty years before the foundation of the monastery of Lux- 
euil, a man was born at Mecca in Arabia who was to convulse the 
world, and, in consequence of whose work, a new kind of religious or- 
ders, those which are called military, were, some centuries later, to 
be established. That man was Mahomet, the founder of a new relig- 
ion which was to become predominant in the East, and finally to tri- 
umph over that portion of the great Roman Empire which still re- 
tained its autonomy, namely, the Eastern or Byzantine, that was grad- 
ually degenerating. 

In the West, a new empire was being formed, that of Charlemagne, 
and the political face of Europe was undergoing a complete change. 
In fact, the foundation was being laid for its present condition, and 
the nations were being formed which still exist. Gaul or France, 
Germany, and the greater part of Italy and Spain were subject to 
Charlemagne. His empire took the place of the western Roman 
empire which was no more. During the reign of his successor, Louis 
the Debonnaire, St. Anscharius, a Benedictine monk, preached the 
Gospel in Denmark and Sweden. Louis the Debonnaire had a rule 
made for the Canons Regular by the deacon Amalarius. It was ap- 
proved by the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 816. 

Many years before, the canons in France had fallen into a state of 
relaxation, and they had abandoned the life of community.' St. 
Chrodegand, who became Bishop of Metz in 742, introduced a reform 
among those of his diocese which served as a model for similar reforms 
in France, Germany, and Italy. The rule which Amalarius composed 
was nearly the same as that of St. Chrodegand. It was taken from 



8 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the canons, the works of the Fathers, and, principally, from the Rule 
of St. Benedict. Louis the Debonnaire had been preceded in his work 
of reform by Charlemagne, who undertook to enforce the observance 
of the community life among the canons. However the canons of St. 
Chrodegand and those of the rule of Amalarius did not entirely relin- 
quish their patrimony like the companions of St. Augustine. 

In the ninth century the Sclaves, who inhabited a part of modern 
Poland, and the Russians were being evangelized by missionaries from 
Constantinople, which was then still in communion with the See of Rome. 
The Bulgarians were also being converted by missionaries sent them 
by Pope Nicholas I. in 866. 

In the following century, Europe suffered greatly by the incursions of 
the Normans, and the Huns, who laid cities in ruins, pillaged monaster- 
ies, and left desolation in their tracks. The tenth century became one of 
the darkest of the Middle Ages. Ignorance and a deplorable corruption 
of morals prevailed, and relaxation crept into the monasteries them- 
selves. But the heart of the Church was consoled in the midst of 
these afflictions by the conversion of its bitterest foes, the Normans in 
France, and the Hungarians in what is now the Austrian Empire. 
The work of reformation in the monasteries and in the Church at 
large was also carried on by St. Odo and St. Dunstan in England, 
St. Benedict of Aniane in France, and St. Bruno, brother of the Em- 
peror Otho the Great, in Germany. The famous monastery of Cluny, 
which became the mother house of one of the most renowned of the Bene- 
dictine Congregations, was founded about the year 910. Until then 
the monasteries of the Order of St. Benedict had been, more or less, 
independent of one another, but that of Cluny, gathering a number of 
filiations around it, became the centre of a congregation, and the model 
of others- which were created in course of time. Europe was then di- 
vided into the empire of Byzantium in the East, that of Germany in the 
West, the kingdoms of France, England, Scotland, and a number of 
smaller kingdoms, duchies and principalities in Spain, Italy, the North, 
and elsewhere. 

The eleventh century witnessed the revival of the monastic spirit 
among the monks, and of fervor among the Regular Canons in various 
parts of Europe, and gave birth to different orders, either entirely 
new, or which at least were new branches of an older trunk. Thus, 
in 1012, St. Romuald laid the foundations of his eremitical order in the 
solitude of Camaldoli. It became a branch of the Benedictine Order 
by its adoption of the Rule of the Holy Patriarch, but, at the same 
time, by its peculiar constitutions and government, it formed a sepa- 
rate and independent body. 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



9 



A few years later, about 1038, St. John Gualbert established the 
Order of Vallombrosa, also under the rule of St. Benedict and in 
the form of a hermitage. The four great orders founded in the 
eleventh century, namely, the two just mentioned and those of Citeaux 
and Chartreuse, were orders entirely contemplative. It would appear 
that at that period there was a peculiar attraction for the comtempla- 
tive life, but the active life of the clergy was not neglected. We 
have seen that the Council of Aix-a-Chapelle in the beginning of the 
preceding century had begun a reform of the Regular Canons, or the 
clergy living in community. Its good effects were, however, of 
short duration, for the Canons had not only grown relaxed, but an 
immense number among them were living lives of incontinence, and 
acquiring their benefices by simony. Against these two great evils of 
the day the holy Pope, St. Leo IX., exerted himself with the utmost 
vigor, undertaking journeys into France and Germany, assembling coun- 
cils, and proceeding against the guilty. In every age of the world God 
has raised up men fitted forthe special exigencies of the times as instru- 
ments of His providence. Such a man was St. Peter Damian, Cardinal 
and Bishop of Ostia, who had been a monk in a monastery of Umbria. 
Considering the evils under which the Church was laboring, he besought 
Pope Nicholas II. to remedy the abuses, and banish private property 
from among the Canons. A council was accordingly held at Rome in 
1059 in which simony and incontinence were again condemned, and in 
which it was decreed that clerics should live together and put all 
their ecclesiastical revenues in common, while they were exhorted to 
imitate the livds of the early Christians, and renounce private property. 
The same decrees were enacted in another council held under Alexan- 
der II., in 1063. The example of St. Augustine and his community was 
cited to authorize these enactments. However, all the Canons did not 
submit to these regulations, and on account of the relaxation which 
continued to exist, several particular reforms were introduced, and 
congregations of regular Canons founded. Thus in the same century 
were established the Congregration of St. Rufmus at Avignon and the 
Reform of St. Quentin of Beauvais. At this period the Canons Regu- 
lar were not yet, strictly speaking, religious, for it was only in the fol- 
lowing century that they began to bind themselves by solemn vows. 

One of the Canons of the period attached to the Church of Rheims, 
was St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians. He instituted his or- 
der at Chartreuse near Grenoble, in 1086. The Carthusians formed an 
independent organization in so far that they did not constitute a branch 
of any existing order. It was not thus with the Cistercians, whose institu- 
tion went forth from that of St. Benedict in the year 1098. Its founder, 



10 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



St. Robert, had made his profession in the monastery of Moutier-la- 
Celle. The Cistercian Order was in reality a congregation of that of 
St. Benedict, whose rule it observed to the letter and with the strictest 
interpretation. 

One of the most important periods of the Middle Ages had now arrived. 
Europe was suddenly awakened as if by an electric shock, and its atten- 
tion turned toward the East. The followers of Mahomet had been con- 
stantly gaining ground ; piece by piece the Byzantine empire had come 
into their possession, until the standard of the Crescent was reared near 
the gates of Constantinople itself ; Egypt and a portion of Spain were 
subject to the Arab conquerors. The Turks, who had gradually gained 
the ascendancy, and who were also Mahometans, and supplanted the 
Arab race, took Jerusalem in 1086, the same year that St. Bruno founded 
his order. The conquerors of the Holy Land began to exercise the 
most atrocious cruelties upon the numerous pilgrims who came thither 
from all parts of the world to visit the places hallowed by the life and 
sufferings of Our Redeemer. Europe, aroused by the heartrending 
tales of woe which reached it from the East, especially through the in- 
strumentality of Peter the Hermit and by the appeal of Pope Urban 
II., determined to fly to the assistance of the Christians in Palestine. 
The cry of " God wills it" was reechoed over every country ; the Cru- 
sades were inaugurated. Never in the history of the world was there 
so spontaneous a movement, never was there so gigantic a struggle as 
that between the Cross and the Crescent. One of the effects of the 
Crusades was the establishment of the Military orders which forms an 
epoch in the history of the Religious state. Thus far no one had dreamt 
of being a religious except by leading the life of a monk, lor religious and 
monk were almost synonymous. Even the Canons Regular, as we have 
seen, were not religious. But the times were changing. The exigen- 
cies of the age required action; the world seemed to be awakening to 
a new life. We shall behold that action manifest itself in the battles of 
the Military orders and in the preaching of the Mendicant Friars. The 
time of entire seclusion from the world, it is true, had not passed, for the 
orders of Camalcloli, Vallombrosa, Chartreuse, and Citeaux, had but 
lately been founded, and other reformed branches were yet to spring 
forth from the ancient Benedictine tree, but the age was no longer sat- 
isfied with absolute contemplation; it required that monasticism should 
adaptitself to the circumstances of the times. The first of the Military 
orders was that of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John, founded orig- 
inally, as its name denotes, for the practise of works of mercy toward 
pilgrims and the sick, but which, a few years later, assumed amilitary 
character, and took up arms in defence of the faith. It was established 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



11 



at Jerusalem sometime before the first Crusade, but it did not become 
a religious order until after the year 1118, when the second superior, 
Raymond du Pity, gave to his subjects a rule which obliged them to 
take the three solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Soon 
after this they offered themselves to combat against the infidels. 

A second Order of Knighthood, that of the Templars, was instituted 
in the year 11 18, and about the same period various other Military or- 
ders, such as that of the Teutons, the orders of Calatrava and Alcan- 
tara, took their rise with the same object, that of righting against the 
infidel in defence of the Christian faith. While the great Military or- 
ders were coming into existence in the East, monasticism was undergo- 
ing a development in the West. In spite of the effervescence of spirits, 
the enthusiasm of chivalry, and the excitement created by the Crusades, 
men were still found who sought their greatest happiness in solitude. 
Among these was St. William of Verceil, who founded the Order of 
Monte Vergine in 1 1 19. It belonged to the Benedictine family, and it 
was eremitical in character. In the same year St. Norbert established 
in France the Order of Premonstratensians, which became one of the 
first regular orders of Canons. A few years later, in 11 39, Innocent II., 
in the Council of Lateran, decided that all Canons Regular should be 
subjected to the rule of the great Doctor of Hippo, and from this 
period they all took the name of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. 

Christian charity manifests itself in various ways, and always seeks 
new means by which it may be exercised. It found a grand field 
towards the close of the twelfth century. The cries of the Christians 
who languished in the captivity of the Mussulmans had reached the ears 
of their brethren, and the answer to their supplications was the foun- 
dation, in 1 198, of the order of the Blessed Trinity for the Redemption 
of Captives, by Sts. John of Matha and Felix of Vaiois. This order 
arose in France, and it was followed about the year 1192 by a similar 
order with an object of the same nature, that of Our Lady of Merc}^, 
established in Spain by St. Peter Nolasco. 

Shortly before this, the Council of Lateran had decreed that no new 
religious order should be founded without the approbation of the 
Holy See. From this time there was a tendency in the Church to 
diminish the number of new orders, but in spite of it they went on in- 
creasing, and it appeared impossible to stem the current. The Order 
of Sylvestrins was founded in 1227, but as it followed the Benedict- 
ine Rule, it could not, strictly speaking, be called a new order. A few 
years before, in 121 1, that of the Cross-Bearers, or Croisiers, was es- 
tablished in Belgium during the Pontificate of Innocent III. A simi- 
lar order had already been founded in Italy, and, a few years later, 



12 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



one with the same name was originated in Bohemia. About the year 
121 5, the Order of Hermits of St. Paul the first Hermit, was founded 
in Hungary, or rather several hermits were united together into a 
congregation by one of the Bishops of that country. It was. about the 
year 1250 that it began to assume the name of St. Paul. 

In the twelfth century that intellectual. movement had begun which 
was to reach its highest pitch in the one that followed it by the labors 
of Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Bernard may be 
called the last important personage who followed the contemplative 
method of the early Fathers. That method was being superseded by 
one more in accordance with the rules of logic, and Aristotle was tak- 
ing the place of Plato. Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, had written 
his famous Book of the Sentences which was to furnish a subject for 
innumerable commentaries, and pave the way for the use of the dialec- 
tic or scholastic method in philosophy and theology. 

While Christianity was being equipped to meet the intellectual 
weapons of its adversaries, the Arab philosophers, who were no mean 
opponents, the material sword lay not useless. Numerous orders of 
Knighthood were being founded, especially in Spain, where the Chris- 
tians were brought into daily conflict with the followers of the proph- 
et of Mecca. The twelfth century witnessed in that country the 
establishment of the orders of Calatrava, Alcantara, Evora, St. Michael, 
and St. James of Compostella. It was about the same time that a 
Priest of Liege in Belgium, Lambert le Begue, (the Stammerer) began 
the establishment of the Beguinages, or communities of pious women, 
who without taking the perpetual vows of religion, led lives of piety 
and seclusion. These have still continued to exist in Holland, and in 
the country of their origin. 

The-devil was also doing his work at the same time, and his emis- 
saries, various heretics who went by the name of Albigenses, Cathari, 
Patarini, and Poor Men of Lyons, or Waldenses, were spread over 
Western Europe, busily engaged in disseminating their errors in the 
fold of Christ. Their antagonism to the Church gave rise to the tri- 
bunal of the. Inquisition, which has been so calumniated by anti-Cath- 
olic writers. Lucius III., in a council held at Verona, in 1 184, decreed 
that every bishop should, in person or by deputy, visit those parts of 
his diocese suspected of favoring heresy, call the accused parties be- 
fore him, and, in case they remained obstinate, deliver them over to 
the secular power. A similar process had existed in Rome as early 
as the reign of St. Leo the Great, in the fifth century. Heretics were 
in those days, considered not only enemies of religion, but also of so- 
ciety, the fundamental principles of which they attacked. And, as in 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



13 



our days, the secular power wages war against those who strive to 
subvert society, calling themselves socialists or anarchists, thus, in the 
twelfth century, the Church considered itself justified in invoking the 
arm of the State to protect both religion and society. The Pope 
positively affirmed that he had taken this step at the formal request 
of the emperor and the lords of his court. The punishments inflicted 
were in accordance with the spirit of the times, and must not be 
judged by that of our own. While the Church was fighting heresy in 
the West, Europe continued its wars by successive crusades against the 
Mahometans in the East, in which the Military orders distinguished 
themselves by the heroic courage of their members. In France, 
Simon de Montfort was waging a determined war against the Albi- 
genses. Other weapons were used against the same heretics by a 
saint whose name stands in the front ranks of those who have been 
raised on our altars as objects of admiration and imitation. St. Dom- 
inic, the great missionary among the Albigenses, became, also, the 
founder of one of the most illustrious of the religious orders. 

An important period had now arrived in the history of monasti- 
cism. It is not hard to distinguish the great movements of that, spirit 
which, from the earliest centuries of the Christian era, has drawn 
men from the world to a closer union with God. Thus the institution 
of the congregation of Tabenna by St. Pachomius, as it placed an an- 
tecedent which was to be followed ever after, was an important event. 
The same may be said of the establishment of the monasteries of St. 
Basil and of St. Benedict, which served as a consolidation and 
strengthening of the monastic edifice, the former in the East and the 
latter in the West. A not insignificant movement was that which ren- 
dered the canons living in community truly religious or Canons Reg- 
ular of St. Augustine, and the establishment of Military orders marks, 
also, a prominent epoch in the history of the Church and of monasti- 
cism. The foundation of an order in itself need not be considered an 
event of great significance, but when that order exercises great influ- 
ence on the monastic body at large, its institution certainly deserves 
to rank among the more important events of the history of that body. 
For this reason all agree in considering the foundation of the Orders 
of St. Dominic and St. Francis as such, for it gave rise to that branch 
of religious institutions known as the Mendicant Orders, and it may 
be said to have revolutionized the religious state. Thus far the relig- 
ious, except in the case of the Canons Regular and the Military or- 
ders, had been a monk, a man of solitude, of contemplation, and of 
prayer. It is true he had frequently left his monastery, and aided 
wonderfully in the civilization of Europe, but this he had done, not in 



14 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



virtue of his peculiar state, but rather by going beyond it, though, at 
the same time, acting up to its spirit. But the time had now arrived 
when the religious was to become an active participant in the affairs 
of his day, a laborer in the vineyard, and that in virtue of his voca- 
tion. The disciples of Dominic Guzman and of Francis of Assisi 
were not to spend their lives within the walls of a monastery ; they 
were to mingle with the world, in order to draw the world to God, 
and the monastery was to serve them as a place of retreat into which 
they might retire in order to regain strength of soul and body. 

Both Dominic and Francis had also learned that riches could not fail 
to become injurious to monastic institutions, hence they established 
their orders on a foundation of the strictest poverty, forbidding them 
to possess revenues. They were to receive their support from the 
people to whom they ministered, and, according to the words of the 
Gospel, to possess neither gold, silver, nor money in their purses. 
They were to be beggars for the love of God. Thus began the Men- 
dicant Orders, which the Sovereign Pontiffs have, at various intervals, 
enriched with spiritual privileges and honored among all other relig- 
ious. The Order of St. Dominic was founded about 121 5 ; that of 
St. Francis had been established in 1209. Not only did the male sex 
thus devote itself to a life of poverty, but beside it, there arose 
the second orders, the Dominican nuns and the Poor Clares, who 
were to lead lives of contemplation and austerity, and assist their 
brethren by their prayers. 

St. Francis also gave rise to a new institution which was to bring 
the religious life into the world itself, namely, his Third Order, by 
means of which seculars were affiliated to the Franciscans, leading the 
life of a religious as far as their state would permit. This example 
was followed by other religious, and thus most of the Mendicants 
came to possess their Third Orders. 

Various congregations of hermits who had at different intervals 
begun to exist were united into one body under the rule of St. Au- 
gustine by Pope Alexander IV., in 1256. Thus did the Order of Her- 
mits of St. Augustine derive its origin. They, too, were placed among 
the Mendicants, and they became one of the four great orders of that 
class, together with the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the Car- 
melites. The latter had received their rule from Blessed Albert, 
patriarch of Jerusalem, about the year 1205, and thus began to exist 
as an order, although the origin of the hermits of Mount Carmel as- 
cends to a much earlier date, and, as many authors believe, even to 
the Old Testament. They passed over to Europe about the middle 
of the thirteenth century. 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



15 



About this time the inquisition, which had thus far been attached 
to the province of the bishops, was by Pope Honorius III., in a certain 
sense, united to the Dominican order, St. Dominic having been ap- 
pointed inquisitor and charged with the duty of seeking the heretics, 
and pointing out to the secular power those who remained obstinate. 

The Dominicans and Franciscans had entered by the middle of the 
thirteenth century into the arena of learning, and they were taking an 
active part in the intellectual movement of the day. The University 
of Paris, jealous of their superiority, placed itself as an opponent against 
the mendicants, but the Sovereign Pontiff protected them, while their 
most illustrious ornament, the Dominican, St. Thomas of Aquin, 
wielded his powerful pen successfully in their defence. Never was 
there such a glorious century in their history. The Franciscans, 
Roger Bacon, Alexander of Hales, Duns Scotus, and St. Bonaventure; 
the Dominicans, Vincent of Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and St. Thom- 
as Aquinas eclipsed all others by their learning and the productions of 
their genius. In certain opinions of philosophy these two orders were 
nevertheless divided, and this gave rise to the two opposite schools of 
Scotists and Thomists, the former following the doctrine of the Fran- 
ciscan Friar, and the latter professing to adhere to the opinions of the 
Angelic Doctor. 

In the same year that St. Thomas Aquinas died, 1274, a celebrated 
council was convened at Lyons in France by Pope Gregory X. for the 
special purpose of bringing about the union of the Greeks with the Latin 
church, from which they had so long been severed by a schism. 
There were present 500 bishops and 70 mitred abbots. King James of 
Arragon, and other princes and ambassadors, attended its sessions. 
The great doctor of the church. St. Bonaventure, preached at the 
second and third sessions. The Greeks abjured their schism, and ac- 
cepted the faith of the Roman Church. This union thus affected lasted 
during the reign of Michael Palologus, emperor of Constantinople, 
but his successor commenced the schism anew. 

About the year 13 19, a new branch sprouted forth from the ancient 
Benedictine tree when the order of Monte Oliveto was founded, dur- 
ing the pontificate of John XXII. More than fifty years previously an- 
other Benedictine congregation, that of the Celestinians, had been 
founded by St. Peter Celestine, who afterwards became Pope under 
the title of Celestine V. 

In 1309, Pope Clement V., who was a native of France, was 
forced by the violence of the Italian nobles to fix his abode at Avig- 
non, and his successors followed his example until 1377, when Gregory 
XL, yielding to the entreaties of the people, returned to Rome. After 



16 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



his death, the Archbishop of Bari was elected Pope by the Cardinals 
under the title, of Urban VI. The Cardinals had been frightened into 
making the election by the clamors of the populace, who demanded a 
Roman as Pope, fearing that if a Frenchman were elected he would 
again remove the See to Avignon. However, they afterwards delib- 
erately confirmed the election, and they were all present at the Pope's 
coronation. The new pontiff, a man of a stern and inflexible char- 
acter, soon alienated by his severity the majority of those who had 
elected him. All the Cardinals, with the exception of four, who were 
Italians, retired from Rome. They maintained that the election had 
been null and void, it having been made under compulsion, and they 
chose another Pope under the name of Clement VII. This election 
commenced the Great Schism of the West, of which we shall frequent- 
ly have to make mention in the course of our history of religious 
orders. Christendom was divided between two Popes, — France, Spain, 
Scotland, and Sicily adhering to Clement VII., whose seat was at 
Avignon, while England, Hungary, Bohemia, and a part of Germany 
recognized Urban. Unfortunately, the schism did not die with the 
Popes under whom it began, but it was perpetuated by their respective 
successors. Religious orders were also divided into two sections with 
separate generals at their head, one subject to the Pope at Rome, 
the other professing allegiance to the Pope of Avignon. A third 
claimant to the papacy came to the front, when the Cardinals and prel- 
ates of both parties met in a synod at Pisa, in the hope of extinguish- 
ing the schism, deposed both Popes, and elected a third in the person 
of Alexander V. Finally, in 1414, a council was held at Constance 
with the concurrence of all three claimants, and Gregory XII., the 
successor of Urban, voluntarily resigned, the two anti-popes, John 
XXIII. and Benedict XIII. beingdeposed. Martin V. was then elect- 
ed, and thus the schism was practically brought to a close, though 
Benedict obstinately persisted in asserting his claims until his death. 
St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, writing about this schism, 
says : "It is conceivable that a person might belong to one or the other 
party in perfect sincerity, and with a safe conscience ; for, although it 
is necessary to believe that there is, and can be, but one visible head 
of the Church, it is not necessary to believe that this or that rival 
claimant is the legitimate Pope. All that is necessary to be believed is 
that the true and lawful Pope is he who has been canonically elected ; 
and an ordinary Christian is not obliged to discover which election 
has been canonical. He may safely follow the opinion and the con- 
duct of his pastor." Notwithstanding the evils caused by this schism, 
and the relexation of monastic discipline which was the consequence, 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



17 



there were nevertheless on both sides persons whom the Church now 
numbers among her saints. Although in some orders relaxations crept 
in at this time, there were also reforms introduced, like that of the 
Observance in the Franciscan Order, as well among those who claimed 
allegiance to the Roman Pontiff, as among the adherents of the Pope 
of Avignon. 

It was at the Council of Constance that the heresies of Wickliffe, 
John Huss, and Jerome of Prague were condemned ; Wickliffe, who had 
disseminated his doctrine in England, was already dead, but Huss and 
Jerome of Prague, refusing to retract, were delivered over to the sec- 
ular power, and they suffered the penalty of death by burning. 

Martin V. had summoned another council at Basle for the year 143 t, 
but he died before it was assembled. Eugene IV. who succeeded him 
was cited by the council to appear in person, and, on his refusal, he 
was deposed. ■ The Pope then dissolved the council and convoked 
another at Florence. The Council of Basle hereupon excommunicated 
theSoverign Pontiff, and elected an anti-pope under the title of Felix V. 
This was the expiring effort of the spirit of schism, and the wound it 
inflicted was soon healed, for the Council of Basle ended by submitting 
to the rightful Pope in 1449- With this the seventy years of internal 
dissension had come to an end, and peace was restored. 

Ten years before this, the Council of Florence had been convened with 
the intention of making an effort towards a second reunion of the Latins 
and Greeks, as the latter had relapsed into schism, and all attempts made 
by the Popes towards their conversion had been vain. In 1437, nego- 
tiations were resumed between Eugene IV. and John Palaeologus II., 
emperor of Constantinople, and it was agreed that a council should 
be held in the West, composed of Greeks and Latins. It was attend- 
ed by the emperor and patriarchs of Constantinople, with twenty ori- 
ental Archbishops, a number of subordinate clergy, and the represen- 
tatives of the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. The 
council was bes:un at Ferrara, but, for convenience sake, was trans- 
ferred to Florence. Once more a union was effected, and the decree 
containing its articles was signed by the Pope and all the the eastern 
bishops with the exception of the bishop of Ephesus, who refused to 
submit. The union was, however, of short duration. The people 
and the inferior clergy were opposed to it, many of the bishops re- 
tracted their assent to the decrees of the council, the three other pa- 
triarchs annulled all that had been done in spite of the efforts of the 
emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople, and, finally, an open 
revolt of the monks, the clergy and the people put an end to the un- 
ion. It was the act of obstinacy which was to precede their down 



18 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fall. A note of warning was sounded when Nicholas V. wrote to 
them these words: "Long time have you abused the patience of God 
by persisting in your schism. God is waiting, as in the parable, to 
see whether the fig-tree which has been tended with such care will at 
last yield its fruit ; but, if within three years it shall bear none, the 
tree will be hewn down, and the Greeks will be overwhelmed with the 
justice of God." The words were prophetic ; the fall of Constanti- 
nople verified the prediction. In 1453 the city of Constantinople was 
taken by the Turks, and the Byzantine empire, which had lasted 1,123 
years, came to an end. 

When Constantinople fell into the hands of the infidel, St. Francis 
de Paula, founder of the Order of Minims, was thirty-seven years old. 
Although the foundation of his institute be not classified among the 
great epochs of the history of monasticism, it nevertheless marks a 
period worthy of notice, on account of the distinctive characteristic 
feature of the order, which was the quadragesimal vow, by which its 
members bound themselves to keep a perpetual Lent. St. Francis de 
Paula died in 1507. The sixteenth century had begun. It was a 
memorable one in the history of the Church, the century of the so- 
called Reformation. To understand w T ell its full value, it will be nec- 
essary to retrace our steps. 

We have seen that monasteries had been instituted from the earliest 
ages of Christianity. Fervent in their origin, some of them had grad- 
ually degenerated. An entire regeneration of the monastic order was 
effected by the foundation on Monte Casino by St. Benedict of the 
great order which bears his name. But some of the Benedictine 
houses themselves becoming wealthy and powerful, had more or less de- 
viated from their original spirit. Abbots became great and powerful 
lords, surrounded by a numerous retinue. The monk, as is natural to 
suppose, being an inhabitant of a magnificent dwelling, around which, 
sometimes, an entire town had grown up, and the superior of which 
was practically, and, not seldom, in the full sense of the word, lord 
of the surrounding country, was, even in the eyes of the world, a man 
to whom all looked up with respect. But there came a time, it was in 
the thirteenth century, when the religious, like those of old, descended 
down to the depths of humiliation, when he even astonished the world 
by becoming a beggar. At first, in the days of his fervor, he was an 
object of admiration and of veneration, but when the number of men- 
dicants had greatly increased, men had ceased to wonder and had 
grown accustomed to them, and, especially, when their human side 
came out more strongly by frequent contact with the world, the ad- 
miration and veneration grew less. The misconduct of some threw 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



19 



discredit upon entire orders, and the respect for the orders themselves 
was thus diminished. The friars had, also, in their schools, fallen into 
a kind of routine of traditional methods which sometimes approached 
the ridiculous. Anything contrary to the teachings of masters was 
looked upon with suspicion, and what we now call progress w r as great- 
ly shackled. Men in advance of their age, like the Franciscan 
Roger Bacon, were looked upon as visionaries, or even accused of witch- 
craft. But there was a moment of awakening. The fall of Constanti- 
nople had driven many of the Greeks to seek refuge in the West. 
They brought with them the knowledge and love of pagan antiquity. 
The spark was soon fanned into a flame, and the world beheld the re- 
vival of Roman and Grecian letters. The philosophy of Aristotle in 
its mediaeval dress began to appear barbarous, and its votaries, the 
friars, seemed to share in the contempt cast upon it. Poetry, painting, 
literature, began to assume a classic character. Rome and Greece 
seemed to live again, even in the very names that were assumed by 
scholars. 

The invention of the art of printing had given a wonderful impulse 
to the dissemination of knowledge, and the discovery of America had 
overthrown many preconceived ideas, and opened a new field before 
men's minds. Unfortunately there was evil connected with all this 
as well as good. Holy things became an object of ridicule, and none 
received a fuller share of this than the monks and friars. Poets and 
novelists made them the objects of their jests, while men like Eras- 
mus of Rotterdam, who himself had been a monk, did not conceal 
their contempt for them. The time was ripe for a great moral revolution, 
and it came, or rather it swept over a portion of Europe like a cyclone. 
The voice of a friar was to set it in movement. Martin Luther was 
a member of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, and he belonged 
to the Congregation of Saxony, of which Staupitz, his friend, was 
the superior-general. The early portion of his religious life was a pe- 
culiar one. The soul of Luther belonged to that class which will remain 
a mystery until the great day when all secrets shall come to light. It 
had great aspirations, but either a wrong direction, or perhaps a secret 
pride, prevented them from reaching their mark. The unfortunate 
friar took a step when he mounted the pulpit of Wittenberg to preach 
against Indulgences, which hurled him headlong into heresy. Leo X. 
condemned his propositions; hehardened his heart; the Protestant Refor- 
mation had begun. Many of those who followed the example of Luther 
were men who, like the friar of Wittenberg, had consecrated themselves 
to God by the vows of religion. CEcolampadius was a Brigittine, Occam 
a Capuchin, and Giordano Bruno a member of the Order of St. Dom- 



20 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



inic. These, with many others, abandoned their cloisters and threw 
themselves headlong into heresy or apostasy. The entire Augustin- 
ian congregation of Saxony was ruined by the defection of Luther. 
Heresy spread through Germany and Scandinavia, Switzerland, 
and the Netherlands, and caused the ruin of millions. Albert of Brand- 
enberg, grand-master of the Teutonic Order of Knighthood, became 
a Lutheran, and appropriated the property of his order in Prussia. Eng- 
land, under Henry VIII., broke with the See of Rome, conventsand mon- 
asteries were suppressed in that country and in Ireland, and the Catholic 
faith gradually disappeared in England, while in Ireland it underwent 
a series of bitter persecutions. This was a period of sore trial for the 
Church, but she was not without consolation, for God raised up saintly 
men to defend her. The sixteenth century and the one that followed 
it must ever remain memorable in the annals of the religious state. The 
sixteenth century was what the fifth and the thirteenth had been, an era 
of a new movement. The fifth century had witnessed the foundation of 
the Benedictine order, the thirteenth was the era of the Mendicants, and 
the sixteenth gave birth to the Regular Clerics. Undoubtedly thegreat- 
est event of that age was the establishment of the Society of Jesus: 
but we must not forget that St. Ignatius had been preceded by one, 
who, more than the founder of the Jesuits, deserves a place beside St. 
Pachomius, St. Basil, St. Benedict, St. Francis, and St. Dominic. If the 
founder of Tabenna may be called the father of religious orders, if St. 
Basil deserves the title of father of the monks of the East, St. Ben- 
edict, that of patriarch of the monks of the West, and Saints Francis 
and Dominic may be justly styled patriarchs of the Mendicants, to 
St. Cajetan of Thienna belongs that of Patriarch of the Regular 
Clerics. This saint was born at Vicenza in 1480. Together with 
John Peter Caraffa, archbishop of Theate, afterwards Pope' Paul IV., 
and Fathers Boniface de Colle and Paul Consiglieri, he laid the 
foundations of the institute of Regular Clerics at Rome in 1524, ten 
years before St. Ignatius and his companions bound themselves by vow 
in the crypt at Montmartre. His object was to restore the apostolic 
spirit among the clergy. Clement VII., who approved this institution, 
gave to its members the name of Regular Clerics, which is truly their 
distinctive title, but which, afterwards, became common to all those 
religious who, in the sense of Canon Law, belong to the same category 
as the Theatines. St. Cajetan had thus begun in the Church a mode of 
life which greatly resembled that of the Canons Regular, but without 
adopting any of the ancient rules, so that he approached nearer to the 
secular clergy than the monks, the friars, or the Canons had done. He 
had begun the work, another was to perfect it, as St. Benedict had 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



21 



given the finishing touch to the monastic state. The institution of 
Regular Clerics obtained its fullest development in the Society of 
Jesus, an order which deservedly holds a place among the greatest 
religious institutions the names of which history has recorded. 

St. Ignatius de Loyola came into the world in 1491, eleven years 
after St. Cajetan. His early years were given to the world, but at the 
age of thirty he consecrated himself entirely to God. In 1534 he in- 
stituted the Society of Jesus, which became a barrier to the Reforma- 
tion that had been begun only a few years before. The Jesuits 
were to eclipse, in their spirit of truly military discipline, their un- 
questioning obedience, and their tact in making use of all the elements 
of nature and grace at their disposal, all religious orders that had 
preceded them. The beginning of the society was lowly, but it 
spread with lightning-like velocity, and in a short time it existed not 
only in every country of Europe, but it had founded missions in the 
East and on the shores of the New World. Jesuits filled chairs in 
the universities, they were at the courts of princes, and their the- 
ologians assisted at the Council of Trent. The world had never yet 
beheld such a compact body of men. Their strength lay in their unity. 

The Society of Jesus and the Theatines were not the only orders 
founded in the sixteenth century. Other Congregations were estab- 
lished for the service of the sick and the education of children. St. 
Philip Neri founded at Rome his famous Oratory, in which his disciples 
led lives of the greatest edification without binding themselves by 
vows. In Spain, old orders were being brought back to a state of 
regularity. Foremost among these reforms was that of the Discalced 
Carmelites, established by St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. Sim- 
ilar reformations were being set on foot among the Trinitarians and 
the Franciscans, the latter glorying in the possession of a St. Peter de 
Alcantara. St. John of God instituted at Granada the Brothers of 
Charity to tend the sick, and the Barnabites, in Italy, devoted them- 
selves to missions, to preaching, and to the instruction of youth. The 
ancientorder of Citeaux also witnessed a reformation when Dom Jean 
de la Barriere established the congregation of Feuillants. While the 
various orders and reforms of orders were being instituted in France, 
Spain, and Italy, the religious state was undergoing bitter persecutions 
in the British Isles, in northern Germany, Switzerland, the Nether- 
lands, and in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, on account of the as- 
cendancy Protestantism had gained in these countries which threw 
off their allegiance to the Church. 

In the latter half of the sixteenth century the Duchy of Savoy 
gave to the Church St. Francis de Sales, the founder of the order of 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Nuns of the Visitation, while France beheld the rise of the Congrega- 
tion of Lazarists, and the life and virtues of its illustrious founder, St. 
Vincent de Paul. From this period, congregations with simple vows 
began to grow numerous in the Church of God. Their members are 
truly religious in the sight of God, but not in a canonical sense. Their 
increase may be considered to form a special epoch in the history 
of religious orders. St. Vincent also founded the institution of the 
Sisters of Charity, which is now spread over the entire world. 

In the seventeenth century the Cardinal de Berulle established the 
French Congregation of the Oratory, and M. Olier founded the 
Society of St. Sulpice, both of which, like the Oratory of St. Philip 
Neri, were without vows. In 1680, the Congregation of Christian 
Brothers was founded by Blessed John Baptist de la Salle. All these 
new Congregations were especially devoted to the active life, but the 
ancient monastic spirit was also revived by the reform introduced in- 
to the abbey of La Trappe, by the celebrated abbot de Ranee. Thus 
while iniquity abounded, grace super-abounded. In Europe, God had 
raised up orders to resist the encroachments which heresy was mak- 
ing, while those same orders sent their missionaries to the East and 
the West to evangelize the heathen. The Carmelites, Franciscans, Do- 
minicans, Jesuits, and others vied with each in laboring in the vineyard 
of the Lord iri Persia, Japan, and other countries of the East, as well 
as among the Indian tribes of North and South America. Wherever 
the explorer went, the missionary of one of these orders was sure to fol- 
low, and many of these heroic men gave their blood in defence of the faith. 

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Jansenist heresy 
swept like a whirlwind over France, and many of the religous orders 
were badly tainted by its breath. The abbey of Port Royal has be- 
come famous by its opposition to the bull of the Soverign Pontiff, by 
which the heresy was condemned. The Congregation of the Oratory 
ia France was also badly infected. The Society of Jesus stood fore- 
most among the defenders of the faith and the opponents of the heretics. 
God, at the same time, raised up in Italy a strenuous champion of the 
Church against Jansenistic tendencies, in the person of St. Alphonsus 
Maria de Liguori, to whom the missionary congregation of the Most 
Holy Redeemer owes its origin. A short time before the establishment 
of the Redemptorists, St. Paul of the Cross founded in the Papal States 
another Congregation, that of the Passionists, devoted to a similar ob- 
ject, but with a stronger tendency towards monasticism than that of 
the Redemptorists. 

Meanwhile the false philosophy of the eighteenth century was pre- 
paring the way for the French Revolution. This momentous event 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 



33 



was preceded by another of an importance not to be exaggerated. 
For more than two centuries the Society of Jesus had been doing its 
noble work, but, at the same time, drawing upon itself the hatred of 
the world. Portugal gave the signal for the persecution which was 
to end in the suppression of the Jesuits. The Fathers were imprisoned, 
some being executed, and the majority of them were thrown upon the 
Roman coasts. Spain and France followed the example of Portugal, 
and, finally, Pope Clement XIV., having exhausted every expedient of 
delay, and yielding to the pressure brought to bear upon him, signed 
the decree suppressing the Society of Jesus, on July 21st, 1773. Only 
a few years later, the countries which had most contributed to this 
event, were brought under the domination of one man with a firm will 
and an iron arm, the emperor Napoleon, for whom the French Revo- 
lution prepared the way. 

Things had come to a crisis in 1789. A portion of the French people, 
led on by Paris and a few demagogues, rose up against their monarch, and 
dragged him to the guillotine. This inaugurated the Reign of Ter- 
ror, during which that instrument of death ceased not to perform its 
deadly work. As usual, the religious orders became the object of the 
fury of those who undertook to persecute the Church. Those who 
served God in great fervor, as well as those who had fallen into relax- 
ation were dispersed in all the countries in which the French Revolu- 
tion triumphed, and, for a time, the religious state nearly ceased to 
exist within the limits of the French Republic. Before this, as early 
as 1765, Joseph II. of Austria had issued decrees of suppression 
against religious orders, but the French Revolution surpassed him in 
its execution of similar enactments. 

Under Napoleon, the Catholic religion was reestablished in France, 
and the religious orders began to return to the country whence they 
had, a few years before, been driven. Several educational communi- 
ties were also established. Pius VII. restored the Society of Jesus, 
first in Russia, and, a few years later, throughout Christendom. In 
18 1 5, the French empire came to an end, and its founder was impris- 
oned on the island of St. Helena. The congress of Vienna brought 
back peace and order to Europe, that had so long been convulsed by 
political and revolutionary storms. 

During the present century, the enemies of the Church have con- 
tinued to unite their efforts to overthrow it, but it has triumphed in 
spite of them. Religious orders have been persecuted in Spain, 
Germany, France, and in some of the republics of the New World, 
but they still continue their heroic work, and the monastic and relig- 
ious state now finds itself in a flourishing condition. 



MONASTIC RULES. 



EARLY MONASTIC METHODS. — ORIENTAL RULES. — COLLECTION OF VI- 

GILIUS.— INSTITUTIONS OF CASSIAN.— ST. PACHOMIUS. — ST. BASIL. 

RULE OF ST. BENEDICT.— IRISH MONASTIC RULES. — RULE OF ST. 
AUGUSTINE. — THE CARMELITES. — ST. FRANCIS. — RULES OF LATER 
DATE. — OBLIGATION OF MONASTIC RULES. 

TT 7HILE monasticism was ir its infancy, each individual who pro- 



VV fessed it followed his own particular attractions, endeavoring 
to practise in their perfection the precepts and councils of the 
Gospel, but as the number of ascetics or solitaries grew more nu- 
merous, it was quite natural that they should look up to the most 
eminent among them for spiritual guidance, and thus the saj 7 ings of 
Fathers of the desert grew to be rules of conduct. Finally they 
banded together in societies, and chose superiors whose living word 
became their rule. Such a state of affairs, however, could only be- 
long to a period of great fervor; after a longer existence, something 
more stable than the will of an individual was required ; a fixed law 
grew to be a necessity. St. Anthony, born in 25 1 at Coma, near Hera- 
clea in Upper Egypt, having spent several years in solitude, was 
joined by many disciples, who established the monastery of Pisper to 
the east, and that of Arsinoe to the west of the Nile. These were soon 
followed by several others, about the year 305, and all these monaster- 
ies looked up to St. Anthony as to their common father. The saint 
frequently held discourses for his monks to excite them to fervor in 
the service of God, and the latter devoted themselves to the exercise 
of prayer, chant, study, manual labor, and fasting. The monks of 
Nacalon had requested a rule from St. Anthony, and there is one still 
extant which bears the name of that saint and which is addressed to 
them. This rule may, at one time, have b en followed by a certain 
class of monks, but it is now, in practise, abandoned, even by those 
who call themselves monks of St. Anthony. 

This saint was not the only solitary of the desert who prescribed a 
rule for the use of his disciples; other men, eminent for their virtue, 
followed his example. Thus there is a rule under the name of the 

24 




MONASTIC R ULES. 



25 



abbot Isaias, especially adapted to hermits. It is supposed that this 
abbot lived in the deserts of the Thebaid, or in some other part of 
Egypt, but his monastery is unknown. Another rule is ascribed to 
the abbot Serapion, who either dwelt in the desert of Nitria, or at 
Arsinoe. In the Collection of Rules made by St. Benedict of Aniane, 
we find those of the two saints Macarius, and of St. Paphnutius, be- 
sides others ascribed to thirty-four abbots. There is also a rule at- 
tributed to St. Macarius the Alexandrian, though some believe that it 
was never composed by him, but that it is rather a compilation of his 
maxims and the practises observed in his monasteries. Saint Pos- 
thumus, abbot of the monastery of Pisper, and one of the successors 
of St. Anthony, is also considered the author of a rule. Cassian re- 
marks that, both in the East and the West, there were as many rules as 
there were monasteries. Most of these were written, others were 
handed down by tradition^ while in some monasteries the will of the 
superior was the only rule. It is sometimes stated that monastic 
obedience has become more rigid in modern times, but it appears to 
us that when we ascend to the earliest days of the religious state, 
we find it as severe as it ever since has been. The will of the super- 
ior was absolute, and his subjects considered it a duty to manifest 
even their thoughts to him. Later monastic rules limited the absolute 
will of the abbot and modified his authority. St. Ignatius in laying 
especial stress on obedience and manifestation of conscience, simply 
walked in the footsteps of the ancients, and systematized their 
practises. 

All these ancient rules tended towards the same end, namely, de- 
tachment from earthly things, and an entire consecration to the ser- 
vice of God. The religious, as far as we know, had no other object 
in view; in those days they did not look to the glorification of an 
order or monastery, but rather to the great work of sanctification. 
For this reason it happened that one monastery would sometimes ob- 
serve several rules, without being especially attached to one in par- 
ticular, though we must admit that such a practice was likely to 
cause confusion. It also happened that a monastery would choose 
one or more rules and adapt them to its own peculiar condition. This 
too, could only suit a period of great fervor, when religious sought for 
that which was most perfect, rather than for what might be most 
pleasing to flesh and blood. Notwithstanding this great diversity of 
rules, the union which existed among all the monks was so great that 
they appeared to form but one Congregation, their general obser- 
vances and mode of dress being universally alike. For this reason 
monks passed without difficulty from one monastery to another, not 



m 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



only from Latins to- Latins, and from Greeks to Greeks, but also from 
the Latins to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the Latins. 

The deacon Vigilius made a collection of the maxims and customs 
of the ancient monks of the East under the title of Oriental Rule. 
Some of these rules of the East were also observed in the West. 
Thus the rule of St. Macarius was introduced into the monastery of 
Lerins in Provence, into that of Reomay or Moustier-Saint-Jean 
in Burgundy, and into that of Saint-Seine. The monastery of St. 
Menion near Orleans observed that of St. Anthony, which, together 
with the rules of St. Pachomius and St. Benedict, was also followed 
in a monastery of women dedicated to St. Columba and St. Agatha. 

. The Oriental Rule of the deacon Vigilius was accepted in some mon- 
asteries of the diocese of Treves. 

Gassian, who had travelled extensively in the eastern deserts, estab- 
lished the practices he had seen there in two monasteries he founded 
at Marseilles. At the request of Castor, bishop of Apt, he wrote 
his Institutions, which also rank among the rules of the East. These 

, Institutions were observed in certain monasteries of France, and also 
in Spain. 

One of the most celebrated of the ancient rules was that of St. 
Pachomius, which was revealed to him by an angel. In it we find the 
foundation of many observances which have since prevailed in monas- 
tic institutions. It ordained that each member of the communi- 
ty should eat, fast, or work according to his forces. The religious were 
lodged three by three in different cells, but the kitchen and the refectory 
were in common. Guests were notallowed to take their meals with the 
community. The monks were divided into twenty-four bands, each 
of which was designated by a letter of the Greek alphabet, having a 
symbolical meaning in reference to those who composed the band. 
Thus, for instance, the simplest religious were classed under the letter 
iota; those hard to conduct, under xi. These symbolical meanings 
were, it seems, not known to the majority of the monks, but only to 
the more spiritual among them. The religious were obliged to pray 
twelve times during the day, as often in the evening, and as many times 
at night. The rule of St. Pachomius, as well as the other rules which 
originated in the East, was destined to be superseded by that of St. 
Basil. This Father of the Greek Church, born in 329, while St. An- 
thony was leading his disciples towards perfection on the banks of the 
Nile, and St Pachomius was forming his monks according to his rule 
and spirit, had the opportunity of studying the monastic state of his 
day, and profiting by the experience of his predecessors. He travelled 
through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and made the ac~ 



MONASTIC RULES. 



27 



quaintance of many of the saints who then flourished in the deserts. 
Having established a monastery in a desert of the province of Pontus, he 
gave to his disciples a written rule which entirely superseded all other 
rules of the East, and which was admitted into all the monasteries. 
It has remained to the present day the only monastic rule among the 
monks of the various oriental sects, both Catholic and schismatic. It 
was translated into Latin by Rufinus, and immediately it began to be 
observed in the monasteries of the West ; but in that portion of the uni- 
versal Church it was not to obtain supremacy, for a more renowned 
rule arose which became that of the western monks. According to Car- 
dinal Torrecremata, St. Benedict's rule was drawn from that of St. Basil,, 
whom the Patriarch of the monks of the W est calls his father, and whose 
rule he recommends to his disciples. When the rule of St. Benedict first 
made its appearance, it found various other rules observed in dif- 
ferent monasteries, but these gradually disappeared as the stars vanish 
before the light of the rising sun. One there was which for a time 
threatened to become its rival : that of the Irish. saint, Columbanus. The 
monastic institution was introduced into Ireland with Christianity it- 
self, for the first missionaries of Erin were monks. St. Patrick, it 
seems, had embraced the monastic state in the monasteries of Marmou- 
tierand Lerins. Some authors believe that he was the founder of an 
order of Irish monks. Whatever be the truth of this, it appears cer- 
tain that at an early period of the Irish Church there existed a diver- 
sit)' of rules on the island. The most celebrated of these was that of 
St. Columba, or Columbkille, who founded his monastery on the island 
of lona in the sixth century. Other rules were established by St. Albe 
in the county of Tipperary, St. Declan at Ardmore, and St. Comgall, 
at Bangor. Last named monastery became the most celebrated one in 
Ireland. Besides these, there were other Hibernian legislators of the 
monastic state, such as St. Mochud, St. Moctea, St. Finian, St. Kieran, 
St. Brendan, and St. Brigid. It was from the monastery of Bangor 
that St. Columbanus went forth to found his home for monks at Luxe- 
uil in France. This saint was born nearly twenty years after the. death 
of St. Benedict, and the same length of time since the first Benedic- 
tine monastery had been founded in France. Lie gave to his monks a 
rule which surpassed in rigor that of the founder of Monte Casino. 
Some time after his death, the rule of St. Benedict was introduced into 
his monasteries, and that of St. Columbanus disappeared. In Ireland, 
however, the Benedictine rule made but little progress, and the few 
monasteries of that order which existed there appear to have been 
founded by the Norman conquerors wdio had brought the rule of St. 
Benedict from across the seas. In Saxon England, on the contrary, 



28 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



and on the continent, it superseded all others and became the only 
one in the Latin Church receiving the sanction of the supreme ec- 
clesiastical authority. When it became neglected, zealous men endeav- 
ored to enforce it, and even added to it, and thus were originated 
the various branches of the Benedictine tree, such as those of Cluny, 
Camaldoli, Citeaux, Vallombrosa, and others. One exception was to 
be found in the rule of the Carthusians, which was an independent 
one. 

Long after the institution of St. Benedict had begun to flourish, we 
hear of the rule of St. Augustine. The Holy Doctor of Hippo had 
written a letter to certain nuns ; this was at a later period accom mo- 
dated to the use of men. The rule of St. Augustine is nothing else. 
It is followed by two classes of religious : the Regular Canons and the 
Hermits. In point of austerity, it is far more lenient than the monas- 
tic rules. Many orders and congregations which have been founded 
since the thirteenth century have adopted it. Among these the Do- 
minicans stand foremost. In the same century a new rule began in 
that of St. Francis ; this, and those of St. Basil, St. Benedict, and St. 
Augustine are considered the four great monastic rules. At various 
periods the ecclesiastical authorities, being averse to the foundation 
of new orders, decreed that new institutions should adopt one of the 
already existing rules. Hence we see that many orders which possess 
a distinct character, affiliated themselves either to the rule of St. 
Benedict, like the Camaldolese, Williamites, and Sylvestrins, or to the 
rule of St. Augustine, like the Dominicans, the Hospitallers, and many 
more. 

Notwithstanding the enactments of councils in this regard, many 
independent rules were at different times framed. That of the Car- 
melites is a special rule, given to them by St. Albert, patriarch of 
Jerusalem. This fact threatened their order with destruction in the 
thirteenth century, as we shall see in its history. At a later period, 
other special rules were instituted, and most of the modern orders 
and congregations, like the Jesuits, and those that came after them, 
possess a rule of their own. The Military orders generally adopted 
one of the existing rules. Though orders and congregations have 
made their own independent rules, nevertheless the fundamental 
principles of those of St. Basil and St. Benedict are found in all of 
them, and they have simply adapted these to their own peculiar exi- 
gencies. Each order and congregation possesses, also, its own special 
constitutions, framed at different epochs by general chapters. It is 
these constitutions which give them their distinctive features when- 
ever one of the ancient rules is their basis. 



M ON A STIC R ULES. 



29 



The points of monastic rules which effect the essence of the vows 
are binding under pain of sin ; the moral obligation of others depends 
upon the nature of each particular institute. Thus in the Order of 
St. Francis, various points of the rule are binding under pain of 
grievous sin. In man}?- other orders the rule, except in matters apper- 
taining to the essence of the vows, is not binding under pain of sin, 
either mortal or venial. In some, various punishments are prescribed 
for breaches of religious discipline, though in many cases the religious 
is not subject to them, except, by a regular trial, he has been proved 
to be guilty. 

It is admitted by theologians that, in cases where it does not bind 
under pain of sin, nevertheless an habitual transgression of the rule 
cannot be excused from sin even, sometimes, grevious, on account of 
the contempt connected with it or the relaxation of discipline which 
it tends to increase, for each religious, by his transgressions, adds his 
share to the deterioration of his order. 



MONASTIC VOWS. 



VOWS IN GENERAL— ORIGIN OF MONASTIC VOWS.— SOLEMNITY OF THE 
VOWS. — THE THREE VOWS. 

LONG before the dawn of Christianity, it was customary to make 
promises to God, by which people bound themselves to His ser- 
vice. In this manner the Nazarasans were consecrated to God. The 
monks and other religious of the Church of Christ take vows. Ac- 
cording to Fleury, 1 a religious is Ci a Christian bound by a solemn vow 
to practise all his life t lie counsels of the Gospel, according to a rule ap- 
proved by the Church." It does not seem that in the earliest days of 
monasticism the religious bound themselves by vows, though it was 
always considered sinful in a monk to abandon his state, in order to 
return to the world, and he also promised to strive towards perfec- 
tion. St. Basil, according to Dom Alphonsus Clavel, annalist of the 
Basilian order, bound himself and his religious by the three essential 
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. St. Benedict required of 
those who embraced his institute the vows of conversion of morals, of 
obedience, and of stability. At that period the religious profession 
obliged only in the individual conscience ; it rendered marriage illicit, 
but did not invalidate it. St. Benedict himself supposes that a monk 
may leave the cloister. In that case he passed over to the jurisdiction 
of the bishop, like other laymen. Fleury, speaking of this, says : " It 
was always regarded as a great sin, if a monk, through levity or for 
some other reason, abandoned his holy profession to return to the 
world, he was then put in penance ; but, as far as the temporal was 
concerned, he was punished only by the shame of the change." When 
the Roman empire had been converted to Christianity, and the civil 
and religious powers began to work hand in hand ; the former, seeing 
the great inconveniences which arose from the liberty leftto religious, 
established the irrevocability of the vows, which was adopted by the 
whole Church. 2 Thus did the vows begin to be solemn. The solemn 
vow is one which is made to God and accepted by the Church, that 
through its supreme power, reserves to itself the right of dispensing 
from it, but only for the gravest reasons. The three essential solemn 

1 Institutio® an Droit Ecclesiastique, Ch. 23. 2 Abbe Badiche. 

80 



MONASTIC VOWS. 31 

vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience alone render the one that 
takes them a religious in a canonical sense. The simple vow, though 
taken to God, and equally binding in conscience, is not accepted by 
the Church, in the same manner as the solemn vow in the form of a 
contract, but by the order or congregation in which it is emitted. It 
has not the same civil effects as the solemn vows, and may be dispensed 
in for lighter reasons than those required for the dispensation of the 
latter. Neither does it render the one who takes it a religious accord- 
ing to the acceptation of the term in Canon Law. Nevertheless a per- 
son who binds himself by the three simple and perpetual vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience in an institute approved by the 
Church, is truly a religious in the sight of God. Before modern 
times, religious were generally bound only by solemn vows, but in 
these latter centuries there has been a tendency to establish relig- 
ious congregations with only simple vows. It was decreed by Pius IX. 
that even in many of the ancient orders the religious should take, first, 
the simple vows, and only a few years later, bind themselves by sol- 
emn engagements. In the Society of Jesus, the solemn vows are 
taken only by the more advanced members of the order. 

It was at first customary to take only the vow of obedience, which 
implicitly contained the others, but since the thirteenth century, when 
St. Francis required the explicit profession of the three vows, the lat- 
ter custom became predominant, though several orders have continued 
to adhere to the original practice. Even in those orders where only 
the vow of obedience is taken, it is essential that the religious should, 
at least implicitly, bind himself to the practice of the three evangelical 
counsels: poverty, chastity, and obedience, in which the perfection of 
the Christian's life consists. 

By the vow of poverty, the religious consecrates to God the goods 
of the earth to which he has a right. The property of our goods is 
based upon the natural law, and upon the duty which obliges us to 
preserve our life. Nevertheless this very right of property has been,, 
and still is the cause of much of t he misery which afflicts the human race. 
Avarice, dissensions, lawsuits, injustices, bloodshed follow it wherever 
it is found. Disgusted with this spectacle, thoughtful men turned 
away from the right of private property as though it were an evil, 
and sought refuge in the community of goods, which some imagined 
was the original condition of mankind. Legislators, such as Minos 
at Crete and Lycurgus at Sparta, introduced it among their subjects. 
So-called philosophers have gone so far as to attack the right of pri- 
vate property as an injustice, so true it is that men easily proceed from 
one extreme to another. 



32 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Our Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Teacher of mankind, though up- 
holding the right of man to his possessions, nevertheless taught His 
disciples to despise riches. The poor He called blessed, and He 
warned the rich of the danger to which they were exposed. To those 
who wished to be perfect He counselled the absolute abandonment 
of earthly goods. These teachings He confirmed by His example, 
choosing for His portion poverty rather than wealth. The first Chris- 
tians, walking in the footsteps of their divine Master, gave up their 
goods which they placed in common. When their fervor had began 
to cool, men desirous of perfection relinquished their goods and em- 
braced a condition of voluntary poverty. Later on, not content with 
the practise of this virtue of detachment from the goods of the earth, 
they bound themselves to it by a vow. To the present day the prac- 
tise and the vow of this voluntary poverty continues in religious or- 
ders in which we find the example of a holy communism. The relig- 
ious bound by the solemn vow of poverty gives up entirely the right 
to possess ; he has absolutely nothing he may call his own ; he becomes 
as it were, in civil life, dead. In the one for whom this vow is only 
simple, the right to possess may still remain, but he is not allowed to 
make use of his property except in so far as this use is allowed by 
his rule and his superior. Thus the vow of poverty removes from the 
religious one of the great sources of crime, and a great obstacle to per- 
fection. 

By the vow of chastity the religious consecrates to God his senses, 
and renounces all carnal pleasures, even those that under certain con- 
ditions are permitted. Many objections have been brought against 
this vow by the enemies of the monastic state and of Christian perfec- 
tion. They say that it is natural for the heart to love the opposite sex ; 
this is true ; but those who make this objection must not forget that 
man is enabled to raise himself above nature by grace, and that it may 
be supernatural to renounce all sexual affection for the sake of a higher 
and nobler love. The objection, taken from the impossibility of ob- 
serving this vow, is null, for what has been done can be done, and it 
is a fact that millions have observed it. They tell us that celibacy 
shortens life, but if this be true, why do we find, as a rule, li ves of such 
length among contemplative orders, both male and female? In re- 
gard to another trite objection that celibacy is an injury to society by 
diminishing the population of the globe, it would have to be proved 
that monastic celibacy really tends to diminish the number of human 
beings on earth. If we examine the matter, the proof fails. The 
period of the Crusades was certainly that in which there were more 
monks and nuns than ever before or since, and that, according to the 



MONASTIC VOWS. 



33 



calculations of Voltaire, was precisely the epoch of the maximum pop- 
ulation of Europe. If monasticism were the only cause of the diminu- 
tion of population we would have to fear, certain portions of the hu- 
man race would not be threatened with extinction, as they now are. 
Not religious celibacy, but profligacy and the abuse of marriage are 
the evils which threaten our modern society. Whosoever contem- 
plates monasticism with an impartial eye must certainly admit 
that it is an admirable institution which tends to raise man above his 
passions, by teaching him self-denial, and that it has always been of 
great benefit to society. But monasticism without celibacy would be 
an utter impossibility ; hence the vow of chastity may in truth be 
called one of its strongest bulwarks. 

There is a vow more difficult to observe than either that of chastity or 
poverty, it is that by which the religious renounces his own will, — the 
vow of obedience. Subjection to law is necessary in every society, 
for without it society would crumble to pieces. Religious societies 
have this advantage over the State, that their members have voluntari- 
ly embraced this condition, and consequently submit, not because they 
are forced, but because they have vowed to do so. These general re- 
flections on the individual vows suffice. 

The question may be asked whether the solemn vows, which render 
the separation of a religious from his order a matter of extreme diffi- 
culty, have been beneficial or not. No doubt there are various opin- 
ions on the subject, but the wisest course to pursue is to submit to the 
superior judgment of the Church. Precautions are taken to prevent 
the religious from binding himself rashly, and taking a step he might 
afterwards regret. This is the object of the novitiate. Undoubtedly 
many have entered religion from unworthy motives ; such persons 
can blame only themselves. Not a few may have been morally forced. 
This may especially have been the case at certain periods of the mid- 
dle ages. In this matter we can only bow before the mysterious per- 
missions of divine Providence, which always knows how to draw good 
out of evil. The Day of Judgment will no doubt startle us by its rev- 
elations on this subject. Until then we have only to wait patiently. 

Certainly if a person has entered a religious order against his will, 
and has made the vows which separate him irrevocably from the 
world, except by a heroic effort he devote himself with courage to 
the service of God, sanctifying himself and his affections, and making 
virtue of necessity, his life will be an earthly hell, and he will be a fit 
subject for pity. Although God never countenances such forced vo- 
cations, if the word vocation may be used here, He who can draw 
good from evil may, nevertheless, permit them for wise purposes 



34 



HISTORY OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



best known to Himself. We may also admit that the Almighty will 
render the religious yoke light, even for those who have taken it upon 
themselves without vocation, if they show themselves generous ; for 
God is never conquered in generosity. 



MONASTIC EXERCISES. 



SOLITUDE. — LABOR. — MORTIFICATION. — PRAYER. 
S we pass over the history of religious orders on the pages of this 



f\ work, we shall observe certain practices common to all monas- 
tic institutions. These form the general exercises of the religious 
state. As in an army the soldiers are constantly drilled, thus in the 
army of Christ the soldiers of the cross have their daily exercises, 
which tend to preserve monastic discipline, and to render the religious 
master of himself. 

All the observances of the monastic state may be reduced to four 
principal subjects : solitude, labor, mortification, arid pra}^er. 

Those who have entered religious orders have always done so in or- 
der to retire from the world. A greater or lesser solitude has always 
been dear to the monastic profession. The ancient solitaries dwelt in 
almost inaccessible deserts, but St. Basil brought his monks near- 
er to the cities when he built a monastery in the outskirts of Cesarea. 
In the West, the general practice was to separate from the world, not 
so much by the distance of place as by the abstinence of com- 
munication with it. St. Benedict required his monasteries to be 
provided with all the necessaries of life, in order that ever)' avenue 
to distraction might be cut off ; nevertheless he permitted his monks 
to go out with the permission of their superiors. When the con- 
tact with the world had caused relaxation to be introduced into an 
order, and a zealous reformer arose who strove to recall his brethren 
to a sense of their duty, one of the first objects of his care was to en- 
force the spirit of solitude. 

In studying the history of monastic orders, we find that the period 
which co-existed with or immediately preceded the Crusades, was es- 
pecially one in which monastic solitude was most highly cherished. 
Most of the orders which originated at that epoch were contempla- 
tive, such as those of Camaldoli, Vallombrosa, the Cistercians, and the 
Carthusians. While Europe was in a turmoil of excitement, the spirit 
of chivalry was at its height, and the clatter of arms was heard on all 
sides ; many, disgusted with the noise of the world, turned toward sol- 

85 




36 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



itude to seek rest for their weary souls. Not a few of these had tak- 
en an active, and not always innocent, part in the busy events of 
that world. Even in this century of ours, there are numbers who live 
in the solitudes of the Carthusian, Cistercian, and other monasteries, as 
if the world did not exist. 

Those who know little of convents and monasteries have frequently 
imagined that their inmates lead lives of indolence ; but it is not thus, 
for labor has always been considered one of the most important of 
monastic duties. The ancient Cenobites .who had given up all their 
goods for the love of Christ, had no other means of subsistence but the 
labor of their hands. We find the monks of the desert constantly at 
work. St. Benedict makes labor one of the most important points of 
his rule, and the Cistercians interpreting it according to their spirit, 
impose manual labor on all the brethren. One of the councils of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, however, forbade hard labor to those monks who were 
priests, out of respect for the priesthood. Nevertheless manual labor 
has continued to exist, even among priests of monastic orders, down to 
the present day. In those, monasteries in which the religious were 
not supposed to work with their hands, other labors, such as study, 
were enjoined. 

Mortification has always been prescribed by monastic rules, for one 
of the objects of the monk was to do penance. The solitaries of Egypt 
lived only on bread and water, while some among them spent whole 
days without food. Nevertheless they arrived to the utmost limits of 
old age. It is surprising to find how many of them had finished a cen- 
tury of life. St. Basil commanded his monks to conform themselves 
to the custom of the country in which they lived, and to choose that 
which was least expensive. St. Benedict allowed his monks two meals, 
and permitted them to drink a little wine. 

Among all the ancient monastic orders, we find the use of flesh meat 
forbidden, though some think that St. Benedict allowed his monks to 
eat fowl, which was in abundance on Monte Casino. The orders which 
followed the rule of St. Augustine were generally not so severe, but St 
Dominic and St. Norbert followed in this respect the custom of the 
ancient monks, and forbade the use of meat. St. Francis, on the con- 
trary, notwithstanding the austerity of his rule, permitted it, with 
the exception of certain days. The female branch of his order, or 
that of the Poor Clares, nevertheless forbade its use. Most of the 
modern orders have not the rule of perpetual abstinence. 

In many orders, particularly those of an ancient date, the time inter- 
vening between the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross in Sep- 
tember and Easter is a time of fasting. The same rule is observed 



M ON A STIC EXER CISES. 



37 



among various orders of Mendicant Friars and Canons Regular. 
Those who profess the rule of St. Augustine are generally less austere 
in this point, as well as in the rule of abstinence. The Order of Poor 
Clares observes a perpetual fast all year round, while the Minims bind 
themselves by a vow to use only Lenten food throughout the whole 
course of their lives. 

Besides fasting and abstinence, religious orders have imposed upon 
their members various other austerities, which differ according to the 
characteristic spirit of each institute. The use of the hair-shirt, or cilice, 
ascends to a very remote period. The Carthusian monk wears it 
constantly, and does not part with it until his earthly life is ended. 

The discipline, or scourging, began to be universally practised at the 
time of St. Peter Damian, who greatly favored this mode of austerity. 
The custom of public self-humiliation has been one of the practices of 
monasticism from its earliest days. The accusation of faults at chap- 
ter is a widespread custom among monastic and religious orders. 

In the life of the Christian, and especially of the religious, mortifica- 
tion must always be united with prayer. The ancient monks in the 
desert lived in constant communion with God, many of them spending 
whole nights in pious exercises. From the earliest ages of the Church 
it was customary to recite matins at midnight. This practice has been 
retained in the ancient orders, and we find it among the Passionists who 
belong to the modern Congregations. In the old monastic orders 
the exercise of prayer consisted chiefly in psalmody, or the recitation of 
the Divine Office, while the whole life of the monks was supposed to be 
an uninterrupted contemplation. Since the days of St. Ignatius de 
Loyola, the practice of systematic meditation has become more com- 
mon, and, among the modern orders, we find the use of other formulas 
of prayer besides the Divine Office, as, for instance, the Rosary. 

Monastic orders have always been known for the practice of hospi- 
tality. The solitary of Egypt interrupted his communings with God 
in order to receive with fraternal charity the visitor who crossed the 
threshold of his cell. St. Benedict, in his rule, opens the door of his 
monasteries to travellers and the unfortunate without discrimination. 
Those fervent sons of the great patriarch of the monks of the West, the 
Trappists, are to-day bright examples of that Christian virtue which 
we call hospitality. The sons of St. Francis are also distinguished for 
the practice of this same virtue. 

It is unfortunate that religious communities should be found where 
the spirit of selfishness seems to exist ; where a stranger meets not only 
with a cold reception, but. even with a lack of politeness. Whatever 
this may be, call it prudence or give it another name, it is certainly 



38 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



not the spirit of the religious profession nor that of the saints. The 
great models of the monastic profession were men of boundless char- 
ity. Never was hospitality better practised than in the days when 
monasteries were generally the abodes of great sanctity, when there 
were many monasteries, but no orders. The establishment of distinct 
orders has been productive of much good, but when the human ele- 
ment is not conquered by the divine, it may also have the result of 
increasing inordinate self-love and a spirit of egotism. A religious 
may occasionally be attached to his order, or even to his monastery, 
at the expense of that general charity which should bind together all 
the members of the Church. 



MONASTIC LABORS. 



MONKS AND NUNS ARE NOT USELESS.— ECCLESIASTICAL SCIENCES. — THE 
UNIVERSITIES. — APOSTOLIC LABORS. — CIVILIZATION OF EUROPE. — 
AGRICULTURE. — ALMS-GIVING. — LETTERS AND ARTS. — SCHOOLS. — 
MONASTIC LEARNING IN IRELAND. — HISTORY. — INVENTIONS. — RE- 
CENT WORKS OF RELIGIOUS. 

SINCE the sad catastrophe which hurled the human race from its 
original state of felicity into the abyss of sin, labor has become 
one of the necessities of our nature. The earth produces fruit only in 
so far as it is tilled by the hand of man. The material elements contrib- 
ute to man's happiness only in proportion to the amount of labor he 
spends upon them. There was, perhaps, never a time in the world's 
history in which the attention of men was so much drawn to labor as in 
the age in which we are living, but we must admit that most of the activ- 
ity expended tends only to man's material welfare. It is, therefore, 
no wonder that the world, tinged with the spirit of materialism, should 
only appreciate those works, the object of which lies on this side of 
the grave, and consider those as useless which regard another life. It 
is for this reason that those heroic men and women who have forsak- 
en the world to consecrate themselves to God are frequently consid- 
ered useless members of society. Those who bring this accusation 
against them forget the merit of those works which tend to lead the 
souls of men to God. When we reflect that the prayers, penances, and 
apostolic labors of religious counterbalance the indifference, licentious- 
ness, and iniquity of the world, we must necessarily arrive at the con- 
clusion that the epithet of useless can least of all be attached to monks 
and nuns. But it is not only by their virtue that religious have been 
beneficial to society ; they have directly contributed to the temporal 
and eternal welfare of their fellow-men by their works. Ecclesiastical 
sciences, so necessary for the formation of ministers of the Gospel, 
have always found a home within the walls of monasteries. Some of 
the most eminent Fathers of the Church were monks, and from the 
desert went forth St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, St. Epiphanius, 
St. Ephrem, and Theodoret. St. Jerome, St. Isidore of Pellusium, the 

39 



40 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Doctors of Lerins, St. Gregory the Great, St. Fulgentius, and many 
more who have shone in the Church by the brightness of their learn^ 
ing, were members of the monastic profession. The patient labors of 
these men elucidated the true meanings of the sacred scriptures, pre- 
served tradition, and refuted heresies. Their writings still command 
the admiration of all those acquainted with the works of the Fathers. 
They have given us treatises on Christian morals, the lives of the 
saints, sermons, instructions, letters, histories of different churches, and 
valuable information concerning the primitive Church. During the 
Dark Ages the sciences of the Church were taught almost exclusively 
in the monasteries. The inhabitants of these dwellings of virtue drew 
from the Fathers of the early ages that knowledge with which they 
combated heresy. St. John Damascene in the East, and Lanfranc in 
the West, made use of these arms. The monks composed treatises on 
liturgy and the Divine Office ; they gave us valuable works on Canon 
Law, and ecclesiastical history is no less indebted to them. Hardly 
had the universities been established than the religious grasped their 
opportunity, and distinguished themselves as their brightest ornaments. 
William of Champeaux established the school of the Canons Regular 
at St. Victor. The Cistercian monk, St. Bernard, shone among all his 
contemporaries by his sermons and his doctrines. Albertus Magnus, 
Alexander of Hales, St. Bonaventure, and St. Thomas were the most 
prominent among the learned religious of the Middle Ages. Patient 
researches, indefatigable labors, constant studies have produced those 
works which have contributed so largely towards the promotion of ec- 
clesiastical studies. 

The inhabitants of the cloister have also worked hard at the conver- 
sion of the world. The disciples of St. Basil served the Church against 
the heresies of Eunomius and Apollinarius. St. Pachomius and St. Ben- 
edict applied themselves and their disciples to the conversion of the 
inhabitants in the vicinity of Tabenna and of Monte Casino. St. Jerome 
prepared catechumens for baptism, and the same sacrament was con- 
ferred upon a multitude of Saracens by St. Euthymius. Monks chosen 
by St. John Chrysostom converted Phenicia to Christianity, while 
Persia and Austria also owed their conversion to members of the mo- 
nastic profession. During the Iron Ages which followed the downfall 
of the empire of the West, it was the monks who saved Europe from bar- 
barism. England was evangelized by monks, and from that island went 
forth the monastic apostles who preached the Gospel to the peoples of 
the North. At a later period, the Cistercians, Dominicans, and Francis- 
cans carried the light of the Gospel into Prussia, Livonia, Tartary, and 
even China. In more modern times nearly all the religious orders and 



MONASTIC LABORS. 



41 



congregations joined in the good work, and sent forth their mission- 
aries to distant countries to carry the cross. 

The monastic works we have just mentioned may perhaps appear 
valuable only to believers in Christ, though all must admit that civili- 
zation invariably follows in the wake of Christianity, and that in this 
respect the monks have greatly aided in civilizing the world. But it was 
not only in the supernatural order that the religious benefited the 
world, they also performed immense good by their labors, which were 
productive of the most beneficial results, even in the temporal sphere. 
To be persuaded of this, reader, cast a glance at the condition of Europe 
after the fall of the Roman empire. The Goths, Huns, and Franks di- 
vided among themselves the spoils. These tribes, barbarous and hea- 
then as they were, despised the peaceful arts of agriculture and human 
letters, and most of them dwelt in subterranean caves or in the forests. 
Science was consequently contemned, and Europe was given over to 
barbarism. Immense woods and -marshes covered the land. It was on 
these inhabitable tracts that the monasteries of the Dark Ages were 
built. Whenever a monastery arose, the face of the country was en- 
tirely changed, the soil became fertile, and luxuriant vegetation under the 
laborious hand of the monk took the place of the desolate moors and wild 
forests that had hitherto existed. The example of the monks produced 
beneficial results, and agriculture, the basis of a nation's prosperity, 
grew to be esteemed and cultivated by the people which had hitherto de- 
lighted only in the arts of war. The monks, possessing immense tracts of 
land, afforded work to countless persons who thus gained theirlivelihood, 
and to many of whom they rented portions of the lands of the monas- 
teries, which were thus divided into smaller farms. Agriculture was 
naturally followed by various other industrial arts, and a number of 
persons were in consequence drawn around the monastery. Thus 
arose many of our towns and cities, over which the venerable monas- 
tic pile cast its protecting shadow. We too easily forget that our so 
highly-vaunted modern civilization is only a development of that founded 
upon the ruins of Rome. But the founders thereof, we may say in the 
full sense of the word, were the monks who, at that period of licentious- 
ness, corruption, and barbarism, were almost the only genuine professors 
of Christianity. Without their persevering labors and their long ex- 
perience, which they transmitted from generation to generation, that 
civilization might have never existed. If to-day by some fatal catas- 
trophe, agriculture should sink into the grave of oblivion, we doubt 
not but that the monk-farmers, the Trappists, and the Benedictines, 
would again cause its resurrection. 

While the monks enriched their monasteries, furnished work to the 



42 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



idle, and added to the general prosperity, they also succored the indigent. 
St. Augustine relates that the solitaries of Egypt, living on the work of 
their hands, freighted whole vessels with their alms for the poor. The 
Abbey of Cluny alone is an instance of monastic liberality. It was known 
to give nourishment to as many as seventeen thousand poor persons on 
one day. Moreover the monasteries afforded shelter to persons who 
in those barbarous times became objects of persecution. This right 
of asylum was necessary at a time when the conviction of a suspected 
person depended too often on personal combats or absurd trials. 

Monks succeeded in abolishing criminal practices, and in protecting 
the people against the tyranny of the great. It was a monk who, 
though at the cost of his life, put an end to the bloody spectacles of 
the Roman amphitheatre. Many a world-worn soul, in those ages of 
cruelty and bloodshed, found rest and happiness within the silent walls 
of those monastic homes. 

The monasteries were also the homes of letters and the arts which 
the incursions of the barbarians had well-nigh ruined. The monks, at 
that period critical for science, devoted themselves with unparalleled 
energy to collect and copy the best works of classic antiquity. Those of 
the monastery of Tours performed no other labors but that, and, in the 
days of St. Benedict, the Italian monks consecrated their leisure hours 
to it. It was among the favorite occupations of the monks of Cluny as 
well as of the early Carthusians and Cistercians. The preservation of 
the five first books of Tacitus was due to the monks of Corby, and with- 
out the labors of the inhabitants of mediaeval monasteries, Alexander, 
Caesar, Homer, Virgil, together with other names of ancient renown, 
might have been forever unknown to us. The rule of St. Benedict 
obliged every monastery to possess a library, and in course of time 
the monastic libraries became justly renowned. It was from their hid- 
den recesses that most of the manuscripts went forth, which were given 
to the world at the time of the invention of the art of printing. 

The monasteries were also provided with schools. These were of 
two kinds : one interior, and destined for the monks only, and the other 
exterior, to which seculars were admitted. These monastic schools 
go back as far as the days of St. Pachomius. The children of the first 
families of Rome were educated at Monte Casino, and, in England, the 
schools of the abbeys of York, Glastonbury, Malmesbury, and Croy- 
land became famous. Ireland was at the same period the land of schol- 
ars, as well as of monks, while the schools of France and German}* were 
no less renowned. Albric tells us that at Cluny the least of the children 
was educated with as much care as the scions of royalty. Rhetoric, 
dialectics, astronomy, grammar, and music belonged to the curriculum 



MONASTIC LABORS. 



43 



of studies. The works of the Arab writers were made known to Christi- 
anity by means of the monks. For several centuries, law and medicine 
were practised by priests and monks alone, though this was afterwards 
forbidden them by the councils. The knowledge of Roman law was 
introduced into England in the twelfth century by Thibaud, a monk 
of Bee in Normandy, who brought thither the code of Justinian. 

Not only were the cloisters of mediaeval Europe schools of learn- 
ing, they were also the studios of artists. Whole edifices were con- 
structed by monks, such as the monasteries of Cluny and Premontre. 
Sculpture and the art of painting were among their favorite pursuits. 
The incomparable Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar, and in our 
own times, Pere Besson, a member of the same order, has obtained 
renown as a painter. 

History owes an immense debt to the abbeys of old. It was custom- 
ary in many monasteries to choose an able writer who recorded the 
actions of the sovereign and the principal events of his reign. After 
his death, the various writers brought the facts they had gathered be- 
fore the next general chapter, which classified them in the form of a 
chronicle. These monastic chronicles have furnished most of the 
material for the sacred and profane history of those times. The names of 
Bede, Ingulf, Turgot, William of Malmesbury, Matthew of Westmin- 
ster, Matthew of Paris, Adom, William of St. Germer, Oderic, Hugh 
of Flavign} 7 , Orkempert, Leo of Marsiac, and Peter the Deacon stand 
' inscribed among the famous chroniclers of the Middle Ages. 

Many of the blessings of our civilization owe their invention to 
monks, though the names of their authors are unknown. Gerbert, a 
monk of Aurillac, invented the clock, which Huggens, the inventor of 
the pendulum, improved upon in times much more modern. The 
same monk is also believed to have introduced the Arabic cipher into 
Europe. Guido d'Arezzo gave to the world the scale of notes which, 
to the present day, forms the basis of every musical education. The 
Dominican, Albertus Magnus, was an expert mechanician. He pro- 
duced an automaton which so closely resembled the human being 
that it spoke. The Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon, foresaw by his 
genius the wonderful discoveries of modern times. He invented, 
among many other things, the reflecting mirrors, and various magni- 
fying and diminishing glasses. His knowledge of astronomy, chem- 
istry, and physics was marvellous. Both Albertus Magnus and Roger 
Bacon were far in advance of their age, which could not appreciate 
their services. The latter was accused of witchcraft, for his acquire- 
ments were too far elevated above the conceptions of the time in which 
he lived. In his work entitled " The Secret Works of Nature and 



44 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Art," he thus expresses himself : " What need is there of having re- 
course to magic, for physics teach us so many beautiful secrets, which 
possess the twofold advantage of satisfying our curiosity and of sur- 
prising the ignorant masses." 

It was a Dominican, Alexander Spina, who invented spectacles. 
Before his time there was no means to correct impaired eyesight. 
Another member of the same order had, before Columbus, asserted 
the existence of the antipodes, contrary to so many prejudices and 
popular beliefs. 

What we have written concerning the past ability of religious 
orders, still holds good for our times. In this century of ours, the 
century of progress, the monasteries are still the schools of virtue. 
The same examples of prayer, mortification, and love of solitude which 
ages past admired, may now be witnessed within their walls. As of 
yore, the religious stand prominent in cultivating the ecclesiastical 
sciences. Witness the labors of the Benedictines of Solesmes, the 
writings of Jesuit and Dominican philosophers and dogmatic theo- 
logians, and the works of Redemptorist moralists, besides the numer- 
ous writings on ascetic theology which have emanated from the pen 
of so many religious. In the latter times, Sacred Scripture has been, 
as of old, made the subject of writings innumerable. Benedictines, 
Capuchins, Barnabites, and others have contributed their share. These 
works treat of the authenticity of the Bible, of biblical antiquities, of 
exegesis, and give critical notes together with the translation. 

In the last century, the works of the Fathers were edited by the 
Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Maurus. Religious of the same 
Order distinguished themselves by their controversial works. His- 
tory is still greatly indebted to religious of various orders. Father le 
Ruien, a Dominican, in his Oriens Christianus, gives us valuable infor- 
mation concerning the four patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexan- 
dria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and Father Touron, of the same order, 
writing the Amerique Chretienne, contributed greatly to the ecclesiasti- 
cal history of the New World. - His confrere, Pere Laba , is an au- 
thority on the condition of the French West Indian islands, in the early 
part of the eighteenth century. 

Liturgy, the Lives of the Saints, and Canon Law have also found 
many votaries in these latter times among the members of various re- 
ligious orders, and the Dominicans have given us the Universal Dic- 
tionary of Ecclesiastical Sciences. 

Religious are as active as ever on the missionary field. Cast a 
glance at the vineyard of the Lord, and you will behold religious on 
almost every spot of the inhabited globe. You will find Carmelites, 



MONASTIC LABORS. 



45 



Franciscans, Jesuits, and members of many other orders in the various 
Protestant countries of Europe. In the eastern portion of the same 
continent the Fathers of St. Paul the first Hermit, the Observantines, 
the Capuchins, and Dominicans, display their activity and zeal. In 
Syria the Gospel is preached by Carmelites, Capuchins, and Jesuits. 
Augustinians, Carmelites, and Capuchins evangelize Persia, while Cap- 
uchins, Dominicans, and Carmelites labor in Armenia, Arabia, and 
Georgia. Various orders are engaged in India, Africa, and Australia, 
while most of the orders have their representatives in the New 



It would take us too far were we to speak of the eminent services 
rendered to the world in our century by religious. All the sciences 
have flourished in the orders. One of the most eminent of our mod- 
ern astronomers, the celebrated Secchi, was a Jesuit, and an authority 
on medical subjects, Father de Breyne, belonged to the Cistercian 
Order. Thus have religious from the dawn of their history until the 
present labored usefully for the glory of God, the welfare of the 
Church, and of society. 



World. 




THE MONASTIC HABIT. 



FIRST DRESS OF THE MONKS. — MONKS OF THE EAST. — FEMALE ANCHOR- 
ITES. — THE BENEDICTINES. — COLOR OF THE HABIT. — THE MENDI- 
CANT ORDERS. — CHANGES IN THE MONASTIC HABIT. 

FROM time immemorial, clothing has been used, not only for the 
sake of modesty and as a protection against the inclemency of 
the weather, but also as a distinctive mark of dignity and office. 
Kings were distinguished from their subjects by the garments they 
wore, while senators, soldiers, priests, and other public functionaries 
had their peculiar garb. It is, then, no wonder that those who, sepa- 
rated from the world by their lives, should also seek to be distinguished 
from worldlings by their garments. ■ In the beginning, the monks pos- 
sessed no distinctive habit, and their founders gave them only the cos- 
tume worn by the peasantry. St. Athanasius, speaking of the clothing 
worn by St. Anthony, father of the Cenobites, tells us that it consisted 
of a hair-shirt, two sheep-skins, and a mantle. St. Jerome says that 
St. Hilarion wore nothing but a hair-shirt, a peasant's garment, and a 
mantle of skins. In the institutes of Cassian we learn that the an- 
cient monks of the East wore small linen tunics with short sleeves 
reaching to their elbows, and a hood which descended from their head 
to their shoulders. Two woollen bands falling from their shoulders 
were united on the stomach, thus forming a girdle, and leaving the 
arms free. Their mantle was of coarse material, and covered their 
necks and shoulders. They also wore a robe of sheep, or goat-skin, 
and always went barefooted, except in a case of necessity, when they 
wore sandals. 

Female Anchorites were differently clad, according to the spirit 
which animated them. The nuns who lived in the communities, sub- 
ject, probably, to St. Athanasius, were clad with simple and common 
material. It was prescribed that their mantles should not be dyed, 
but should be of a color naturally black or reddish. The sleeves of 
their robes covered their hands down to the fingers. They were ac- 
customed also to cut their hair. Fringes were entirely forbidden. 
They wore hoods and scapulars. We learn from St. John Chrysos- 

46 



THE MONASTIC HABIT. 



47 



torn that the nuns of his time wore a black tunic bound together by a 
girdle, a white veil on their forehead, and a black mantle, which cov- 
ered the head and the entire body. Their shoes were pointed, and, 
probably, white. 

In the West, the only mark in the habit to distinguish monks from 
seculars consisted in the material, which was coarse. Fleury says that 
St. Benedict gave no other habit to his disciples but that of the peas- 
antry. This holy founder himself received from the hands of St. 
Romanus a habit of skins with which he clothed himself in the desert 
of Subiaco. It also appears that he gave a similar habit to his dis- 
ciples before he had written his rule. It is probable that, at- this peri- 
od, sheep-skins were the ordinary dress of the shepherds and the 
mountain peasantry, as well in the East as in the West. 

When the early founders of monastic orders had written their 
rules, they prescribed habits similar to those of the poorer classes. It 
was about this time that the cowls with hoods became common among 
the monks. Utility brought them forth, as they were found to be 
very convenient in cold weather. 

Religious being dead to the world, and by their profession devoted 
to works of penance, they assumed in the beginning for their habits the 
color of mourning worn in their respective countries. Thus in Syria, 
Palestine, Thracia, and Greece they wore black, and in Egypt, white. 
It is probable that the latter color was also worn by the early Bene- 
dictines, who at a later period adopted black ; but several branches of 
the order, like the Camaldolese and Cistercian monks, returned to the 
original color. At the present day, nearly all the monks wear black, 
white, or brown, the two former being the prevailing colors. 

The Canons Regular, being by the nature of their profession ecclesin 
astics, wore a clerical dress which was variously modified according to 
the various congregations. Their habits also differed in color, white, 
however, being predominant. A distinctive portion of the habit, gen- 
erally worn by Canons Regular, was the surplice. This article of 
clothing was also assumed by various congregations of Canonesses. 

The Mendicant orders assumed habits widely different from one an- 
other. The origin of these was either the circumstances of time, or a 
divine revelation. St. Francis gave to his friars the ordinary dress of 
the peasantry as St. Benedict had done, while the white habit of the 
Dominicans and that of the Trinitarians owe their origin to a revelation. 
Decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs also frequently modified the habit, 
as in the case of the Hermits of St. Augustine. The latter wore black 
and white, and, among them, the leather girdle was generally a dis- 
tinctive mark. 



48 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



We also find that in some religious orders the habit underwent 
changes. These were brought about either by .positive enactments, 
or by a natural development. Thus we see that the habit of the Fran- 
ciscans changed according to the different observances which existed 
in the body of the order. Reforms were also frequently a cause of 
modification of the habit, as we find in the case of the Carmelites. 

When in modern times the orders of Regular Clerics were estab- 
lished, no other habit was originally chosen but that of the secular 
clergy, and the same is true of many of the simple congregations. St. 
Ignatius prescribed no special habit for his brethren, but left this to 
the customs of the country in which they lived. In some of these or- 
ders and congregations the original dress became, in course of time, 
a distinctive habit, as for instance, among the Redemptorists, whose 
habit was that of the Neapolitan clergy in the days of their founder, 
St. A]phonsus. Here and there some special mark was added to 
the costume of the secular clergy, such as the crucifix or the rosary. 
Several of our religious congregations to-day wear the same habit as 
the secular priests; to these belong the Lazarists, Marists, and others.. 

The habit of various modern congregations of nuns was originally 
that of the peasantry, or poorer classes. 



MONASTIC PROPERTY. 



ORIGIN OF MONASTIC PROPERTY.— ABUSE OF MONASTIC PROPERTY. — ST. 
FRANCIS AND ST. DOMINIC. — ST„ IGNATIUS. — SUPPRESSION OF RELIG- 
IOUS ORDERS. 

HERE we touch upon a sore spot. The possessions of monasteries 
are a thorn in the side of their enemies, and they have frequent- 
ly been the cause of the persecutions which monastic bodies have had 
to endure. Nevertheless, every unprejudiced mind must admit that 
it is as necessary for monasteries as for individuals to possess a share 
of this world's goods, without which life becomes utterly impossible. 

When we ascend to the origin of monastic property, we find that, 
in the beginning of the Middle Ages, these religious houses were gen- 
erally founded by three classes of persons : bishops, kings, and nobles. 
Since the Council of Chalcedon, which decreed that no monastery 
should be founded without the consent of the bishop, it may be said 
that bishops have had a share in the foundation of all these institutions. 
Many of these prelates endowed the monasteries thus founded with the 
goods of their diocese. This was permitted them by the councils, and 
most of the ancient abbeys were thus established. The Ninth Council 
of Toledo, however, forbade the bishops to give to the monasteries 
more than the fiftieth part of their diocesan property. 

Other monasteries were founded by sovereigns. Thus in France, as 
early as Charlemagne, we hear of royal abbeys as distinguished from 
those that had been founded by bishops. Louis the Debonnaire, son 
of Charlemagne, constructed or repaired seventeen monasteries. The 
author will never forget a visit paid to one of these venerable monu- 
ments of the Ages of Faith. It was that in which the ashes of St. 
Benedict of Aniane, one of the reformers of the Benedictine order, 
repose, though in an unknown grave. The abbey itself has passed in- 
to other hands, but the church stands there still with its silent tombs 
of the abbots of past ages. It was founded by Louis the Debonnaire 
and it is situated in the picturesque village of Corneli-Munster at the 
foot of the Eifel Mountains, about two leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle. 
In the church the relics of St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian are vener- 
ated with a great concourse of the faithful. 

49 



50 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



It was not only bishops and kings who vied with each other in found- 
ing monasteries ; noblemen too imitated their example, and spent their 
earthly goods in like manner, bestowing especially their lands, frequent- 
ly waste and sterile, upon the monks, who rendered them fertile. The 
people also contributed their share towards the increase of monastic 
wealth, for it frequently happened that entire families would give 
themselves to monasteries, thus seeking protection against the oppres- 
sion of the great. They became, as it were, the voluntary slaves of 
these religious houses. We see thus that the origin of monastic prop- 
erty was what is called donation, a title perfectly just and honest. 
The property thus acquired was increased by other donations and by 
the industry of the monastic proprietors themselves. We have no 
doubt that this wealth, though honestly acquired, frequently became a 
source of disorder and relaxation in religious houses. St. Francis and 
St. Dominic, the two great founders of the Mendicant orders, must 
have had this in view, when they forbade their disciples to possess im- 
movable goods and desired them to obtain their support only from the 
charity of the faithful. St. Ignatius, on the other hand, expected his 
colleges to be endowed, and forbade his religious to accept compensa- 
tion for their ministry. St. Cajetan and the Thatines not only refused 
to possess revenues, but, also declined to beg, relying entirely on Di- 
vine Providenee. 

To whom did monastic goods belong ? To no individual in partic- 
ular, but to the order, and to the Church at large. Do you behold 
that magnificent abbey ? Its architecture is wonderful ; the most ex- 
quisite paintings of the greatest masters adorn its walls. But enter 
within its humble cells, where the religious dwell. There the strictest 
poverty prevails, for the monk has nothing he may call his own. But 
what is done with the wealth? In the first place let us remember 
that it takes much to support a large community, say of sixty or more 
persons. Moreover a religious, in case of necessity, frequently calls 
upon his order for the support of his indigent family. Many religious 
orders, for instance those of Cluny and St. Maurus, had special funds 
for this purpose. It is also a certain fact that religious dwellings have 
always been houses of charity toward the poor. Nowhere did this 
become more apparent than in England, after the suppression of 
the monasteries, when the swarms of paupers, deprived of the suste- 
nance they had received from these institutions, began to overrun the 
land. 

We are well aware of the fact that abuses may exist and that they 
have existed in religious houses. A superior though deriving no per- 
sonal advantage from the increase of the goods of his house, except a 



iMOXASTIC PROPERTY. 



51 



certain amount of glory and praise, may allow himself to be conquered 
by avarice and cupidity ; he may become miserly as much as a man of 
the world. Individual religious may show themselves harsh and un- 
charitable to the poor, either from character or for some pretext or oth- 
er, but let it be remembered that such men are not acting up to the 
spirit of the religious state, which is essentially an unselfish one, but pos- 
itively in contradiction to it. Their misconduct does not overthrow 
the fact that religious houses have generally been the houses of the 
poor. Religious bound by the vow of poverty, ma}^ sometimes favor 
the rich more than the poor, but herein, again, they act in opposition 
to the spirit of the great masters of the monastic profession. 

Religious orders have, at various times, been suppressed both by 
the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and their goods have been confis- 
cated. To justify their action the former would have to show that the 
orders in question were injurious to the state, and this they have not 
been able to do. The property of the monasteries, though sometimes 
very vast, was always used to the benefit of society, and there could 
consequently be no reason to deprive them of it. We ask : has England 
in any way been benefited by the monastic goods which were confis- 
cated at the time of the suppression by Henry VIII. ? They served to fill 
the pockets of a few indolent nobles and favorites of the crown, but has 
not pauperism increased in England to an alarming extent since the 
Reformation ? What benefit did France derive from the goods of the 
religious orders suppressed during the revolution ? 

The Church had other reasons for its action. When the monasteries 
were originally endowed, their founders intended to establish insti- 
tutions useful to the Church and to society. As long as the religious 
lived up to the spirit of their rule and the intention of the pious foun- 
ders, no earthly power possessed the right to expropriate them, except, 
perhaps, the Church, in virtue of the right of supreme dominion, and for 
the common good. But when they degenerated, applied their goods 
to other uses than those intended by the donors, or became injurious to 
themselves, to society, and to the Church, then it was the latter' s duty 
to recall them to the path of righteousness, and, if they showed them- 
selves incorrigible, to suppress them. 

We may finish this chapter with the remark that earthly goods are 
as necessary for monastic institutions as for private individuals, but 
that too great wealth has often been the misfortune of religious com- 
munities. It is remarkable that the days of the greatest fervor of an 
order were the days of its greatest poverty. This is one of the les- 
sons we learn from history. 



MONASTIC GOVERNMENT. 



NECESSITY OF AUTHORITY.— CONGREGATION OF TABENNA.— GOVERN- 
MENT IN THE BENEDICTINE ORDER. — ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.— 
THE MENDICANTS.-- SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. — GENERAL CHAPTERS. 

AUTHORITY is necessary in every society, for without it the 
members could not be united. This is especially true of 
religious societies, of which obedience is the very essence. Hence we 
see the most ancient religious communities governed by a common 
father. The earliest monasteries were independent of one another, 
each being subject to its superior, or abbot. St. Pachomius was the 
first to establish a congregation or society of several monasteries, 
united under one rule, and governedby regular assemblies or chapters. 
The institution of St. Pachomius served as a model for all later orders 
and congregations, and therefore its mode of government deserves 
special attention. The congregation bore the name of Tabenria, as it 
was there that St. Pachomius founded his first monastery, but the 
mother-house of the order was at Pabau, this one being the most 
important. It was there that the religious assembled to celebrate 
Easter with their founder. There, too, they held the j^early chapters 
of the order in the month of August. The congregation was governed 
by an abbot general, and it had its econome or procurator, who attend- 
ed to its temporal affairs. In the general assemblies, the superiors and 
other officers were elected. The regular observance was maintained 
by the visits which the superiors paid yearly to the monasteries. 
Each monastery was governed by its abbot, who was assisted by a 
vicar. 

The custom of holding general chapters has continued in the West, 
but in the East it has long since fallen into desuetude. The monks 
of the Orient have also their generals, to whom the name of Exarch is 
given, while the superiors of monasteries bear the name of Hegumen- 
os. An Archimandrite is one who has several monasteries under his 
jurisdiction. 

According to the rule of St. Benedict, the abbot is elected for life, 
and he appoints the prior or assistant. Those monasteries which 

53 



MONASTIC GOVERNMENT. 



53 



have not been raised to the rank of an abbey are governed simply by 
a prior. This form of government is that of an elective monarchy, 
which may be called constitutional, as the power of the abbot is lim- 
ited by the rule. In the beginning of the order, each abbey was in- 
dependent, but in course of time several monasteries were united 
under one superior, and they thus formed a congregation. That of 
Cluny is one of the oldest instances of a Benedictine congregation. 
At the present day the Benedictine order has no general, but each 
congregation is governed by its president. 

When the orders of Knighthood came into existence, a mixed disci- 
pline, military and religious, was introduced, and the general of the 
orders assumed the title of Grand-Master. The Mendicant orders, 
humble as they were, rejected all insignia of rank and show of dignity, 
and established their government upon a democratic principle, their 
superiors being elected for a term of years. The Dominicans, though 
recognizing and rewarding merit even with titles, such as that of 
Master, are nevertheless essentially democratic in their government 
The superiors of the monasteries, of the provinces, and of the entire 
order are elected by those whom they govern, so that these religious 
are in the full sense of the word, as much as the American people, a 
self-governing body. 

With St. Ignatius de Loyola a system of absolute monarchical gov- 
ernment began. The will of the superior was rendered supreme, so 
that the Jesuits may truly be said to be entirely governed by one 
man, though that one has several assistants or consultors who aid 
him by their advice. This method of St. Ignatius was followed by 
many orders and congregations of later date. 

One of the most efficient means to preserve monastic discipline is 
the assembling of general chapters, and we find that when these are 
neglected, relaxation and disunion easily creep into religious orders. 
This ancient custom, instituted by St. Pachomius, was revived in the 
West by the order of Citeaux. In a general chapter, the affairs of 
the order are discussed, regulations for the better maintenance of dis- 
cipline are drawn up, and constitutions are framed. The guilty are 
punished, or even deposed from their office, while a new impetus is 
given to monastic regularity. It may sometimes occur that the only 
remedy for grievances is to be found in general chapters. Certainty a 
religious may appeal from a lower to a higher superior, but if the 
general cannot or will not remedy the evil, what other redress can 
there be found save in a general chapter, except, an appeal to the Sov- 
ereign Pontiff, which is generally accompanied with much difficulty and 
inconvenience ? 



54 



HIS TOR Y OF RELIG1 0 US ORDERS. 



It is saidthat a general chapter may become an occasion of dissensions, 
but we must remember that when people assemble to discuss matters, 
they are not supposed to agree, but that they meet rather to express 
opinions, and that in every meeting of human beings differences of 
opinion are a necessity. What is better: to suffer some dissensions in 
an assembly, from which much good may result, or to allow an order 
to fall into a rut and to grow rusty in practices foreign to its spirit? 
Ought we not of two evils to choose the least? 

Another advantage of general chapters is the greater union which 
it promotes in an order. Members are brought together from vari- 
ous portions of the globe; they learn to know one another, as well 
as the provinces they represent, interests grow to be mutual, the isola- 
tion of individual provinces decreases, and a wider knowledge of the 
manners and customs of different nations helps to break down nar- 
row-minded national prejudices. 



MONASTIC REFORMS. 



PRINCIPLE OF SELF-CURE IN RELIGIOUS ORDERS. — THE NINTH CEN- 
TURY. — ST. BENEDICT OF ANIANE.— ST. ODO OF CLUNY. — VARIOUS 
REFORMS. — MEANS OF REFORM. — PRIVILEGE OF EXEMPTION. — THE 
NOVITIATE. 

VERY human institution, no matter how holy, has a downward 



I j tendency. Passions, the love of ease and independence, inter- 
ference of governments, political agitations and wars have all con- 
tributed towards relaxation of discipline in monastic orders. But 
the evil has never been without its remedy, the poison without an an- 
tidote. There is within these religious bodies a principle of self- 
cure, which sooner or later succeeds if the evil is not past remedy, 
and which constantly tends toward reformation. The history of re- 
lio-ious orders has been one of foundation and of reformation. It is 
the history of the human body. From our cradle to our grave, our 
life is a constant struggle against disease. 

In the ninth century, the Iron Age, many religious, as well as eccle- 
siastics in general, were less applied to the service of God than to all 
manner of worldly occupations, military exercises, horseback riding, 
tilting, playing, and good living. Councils endeavored to remedy the 
abuses, but in vain. One man, a saint (for a true reformer must be a 
saint), brought back the monks to a sense of their duty. On the banks 
of the little river of Aniane, he founded a monastery whence the good 
odor of Jesus Christ went forth to reclaim many other religious insti- 
tutions. The second Benedict had succeeded in reforming what the 
first had founded. This reformation lasted only a short time, for in 
the following century the monks, demoralized by civil wars and the rav- 
ages of the Normans, had once more fallen into a deplorable condition. 
St. Odo of Cluny succeeded in again recalling the Benedictines to 
the practise of regular observance, and this reform was more lasting* 
as the congregation of Cluny established it upon a solid basis. 

As it was with the Order of St. Benedict, thus it was with other 
orders. In the days of their decadence, God called forth prophets 
from among their brethren to lead them back to the practise of per- 




m 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fection. Sometimes the entire order was reformed; at others those 
who desired to live up to the primitive spirit of their institute, failing 
to draw their brethren by their example, separated from the main body, 
and, with the consent of the Apostolic See, began a reformed branch 
of their order. We find examples of this among the Franciscans, 
Carmelites, and others. At times the reformed order was more aus- 
tere than the original rule required, the reformers either believing 
that it was necessary to go from one extreme to the other, or desiring to 
lead their disciples to a higher perfection by a more difficult road 
than the original founder had intended. 

Various general means of reforming religious orders have been pro- 
posed. First it has been said that the age required for the taking of 
vows ought to be retarded. This question has been considered by 
the ablest and most learned men, and the Council of Trent finally fixed 
the age at sixteen. On the one hand we must admit that the ser- 
vice of God is easier, when embraced at an early age than when one 
has grown accustomed to the world. It is easier to bear the yoke of 
the Lord when we have borne it from infancy. On the other hand, if 
only those of mature age were admitted into religion, how many, tossed 
about by the tempestuous sea of the world, would not lose their voca- 
ion? Would the vows be any more solid because taken by one more 
advanced in years ? 

The privilege of exemption has also been considered an occasion of 
relaxation. In the beginning, the monks, nearly all laymen, were 
subject to the jurisdiction of their bishops. Many of the latter hav- 
ing begun to abuse their authority to the detriment of religious observ- 
ance, the monasteries obtained from the Holy See prerogatives and 
privileges to protect themselves against these encroachments upon 
their rights. St. Gregory was the first to grant these. Canonists 
maintain that, in the beginning, they only tended to protect the tem- 
poralities of the monasteries, but, in the eleventh century, the relig- 
ious asserted that they exempted them from the jurisdiction of the 
ordinaries. These pretensions were favorably received at Rome, and 
thus began the privilege of exemption, which, nevertheless, according 
to some writers, ascends to a more remote antiquity. 

This exemption grew to be an abuse in many quarters. Abbots ex- 
tended it to the servants of their monasteries, and regulars, especially 
the Mendicants, preached and administered the sacraments through- 
out Christendom with no other jurisdiction but that received from the 
Pope. Many a voice was raised against.this state of affairs, but with 
no result, until the Council of Trent, which modified it, allowing the 
privilege of exemption to be enjoyed only by monasteries belonging 



MONASTIC REFORMS. 



57 



to a Congregation. In so far as the administration of the sacra- 
ments is concerned, religious were to be subject to the bishops. Ex- 
emption holds good only for the order itself, and extends not to its 
work of the ministry. The bishop may even correct abuses in the 
monaster} 7 , if the superior, having been admonished, neglects to apply 
the remedy. Exemption thus understood serves rather to preserve 
regular observance than to destroy it. 

One of the most efficient means to preserve monastic discipline is 
the education of the youthful religious in the novitiates. There the 
foundation of his future life is laid, there, in order to prepare him for 
the combats of after years, he should be taught to acquire solid virtue 
rather than be exercised in minor practices which pass away with the 
novitiate. It frequently happens that the novice of an active order 
is required to lead the life of a contemplative, a life he will never lead 
again. This is a matter worthy of consideration. The novitiate ought, 
in the full sense of the word, to be a school, a time of trial and of prep- 
aration. 



MONASTIC SUFFERINGS. 



SUFFERINGS PROCEEDING FROM THE NATURE OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 
—FROM BRETHREN. — FROM SUPERIORS. — LOVE OF GOD NECESSARY. 
— HAPPINESS OF THE TRUE RELIGIOUS. 

O one will ever assert that a monastery is a place of earthly happi- 
ness, as this word is understood by worldlings. We know by bit- 
ter experience that our life, from the cradle to the grave, is a tissue 
of much that is disagreeable to human nature, and whithersoever we 
turn, we are sure to find the cross. Suffering is a native of no partic- 
ular clime; it belongs to all countries and to all ages of the world. It 
is a part of our inheritance, transmitted to us by our first parents. 
Though necessary, it is none the less unpleasant, and following the 
promptings of human nature, we endeavor, by all possible means, to 
escape from, or at least to alleviate it. Christ, on the other hand, teaches 
us by His word and example not to fly from it, but rather to embrace 
it. "If any one will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross 
and follow Me." In religious communities, where suffering is reduced 
to a system, all tends towards the practice of these words of Our Lord. 
The entire monastic life must needs be a life of restraint, and, consequent- 
ly, a life of suffering. " The governing thought of monastic life," says 
Dean Church, speaking of monasteries as they were some three or 
four centuries ago, " was that it was a warfare, militia, and a monastery 
was a -camp or barracks. There was continual drill and exercise, early 
hours, fixed times, appointed tasks, hard fare, stern punishment; 
watchfulness was to be incessant, obedience prompt and absolute ; no 
man was to murmur." 1 The same may be said of the monasteries of to- 
day. Whosoever enters one of them, enters a school of suffering and 
a state of voluntary slavery. St. Alphonus says that whenever an} T one 
becomes a member of a religious order or congregation, he must be 
resolved to suffer and to suffer much if he would find true peace and 
happiness. This suffering proceeds, in the first place, from the very na- 
ture of the religious state. Is not the practice of the three vows in 
themselves a constant exercise of self-denial? Look at the life of a 
monk, a Trappist or Carthusian, for instance. What is there in its 
constant monotony, its lengthened psalmody, its fasting and vigils, 

1 Life of St. Anselm, cited by Gasquet in Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. 

58 



N 



MONA STIC SUFFERINGS. 



5J9 



flattering to human nature? The monk has voluntarily deprived him- 
self of the comforts of life and of the solace found by human nature in 
social intercourse. 

Add to these sufferings, which are inherent in the religious state, and 
which spring from its very essence, those that are accidental nor few 
in number. They are crosses which, it is true, are also to be found in 
the world, but with this difference : that in religion there is less of 
human consolation to soften them. One of these crosses proceeds from 
natural antipathy. Though the scripture tells us that it is good and 
pleasant for brethren to dwell together, it nevertheless happens that 
some of these brethren are by no means drawn to one another by a 
natural attraction. Living in the same house, constantly brought to- 
gether, eating, perhaps, side by side, in the same refectory, knowing 
one another's faults, loving one another perhaps in Christ only, their 
life is rendered bitter, if they are not animated by sufficient self-denial. 
One of the brethren may be talented, and perhaps popular ; this may 
cause jealousy in certain imperfect members of the community, which 
may be carried so far that he become an object of persecution. Do 
we not read of such things in the lives of the saints of religious orders ? 
Was not St. John of the Cross subjected to a cruel imprisonment by his 
own brethren? How much did not Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque 
have to endure on the part of the members of the community ? 

Then it may happen that the superior is a man of little virtue. 
Proud, impetuous, domineering, he may become the tyrant, rather 
than the father of his community. We once heard a member of a very 
austere order remark that he could not live with a certain superior. 
Such a one at the head of a community, especially where the spirit of 
absolutism exists, may have his own views of the interpretation of the 
rule, which he may render harder than its founder ever intended 
it to be, or he may be a man of lax principles who will favor those 
who are less observant, and, perhaps, treat harshly the more fervent 
brethren of the community. He may be partial, over-lenient towards 
some, and extremely rigorous towards others. 

Then when the days of sickness arrive, what then ? The superior 
and the brethren may not possess all the charity required of them, 
and the sick man may be neglected. Was not St. John of the Cross 
left, for a long time, shamefully alone during his last illness? The 
members of the community may be overburdened by work, and they 
may hardly find time to wait on the sick. The sufferer may thus be 
left entirely to himself, at least if it is not apparent that he is danger- 
ously ill, and this may happen without any malice on the part of his 
brethren. 



60 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



These sufferings render the religious life hard. If a man has not 
the spirit of the cross and a great love for God, if he is not detached 
from the earth, if he loves himself too much, such a life becomes a hell. 
No ! Ordinary virtue is not sufficient for the religious life; it requires 
heroism and an earnest striving after perfection. Imagine a religious 
bound by solemn vows, who has not this spirit of complete self-denial, 
who feels a dislike for his state, which, perhaps, he entered without 
sufficient and earnest thought, who, perhaps, is persecuted by some of 
the community, and who sees no way of escape. Can you picture to 
yourself a worse condition ? There is a remedy for the evil, it is true, 
but it consists only in the love of God, which sweetens all tribulations. 
Is it any wonder that some weak souls have sought to fly from such 2, 
life, or, not succeeding herein, have contributed towards the relaxa- 
tion of monastic discipline ? During the reign of Henry VIII., one of 
the Carthusians of the Charterhouse of London wrote to Cromwell, 
hinting that he wished to be released from his life in the monastery. 
Another -member of the same community, Nicholas Rawlins, wrote 
begging that the supreme- head (the king) would dispense him from 
religion. He adds : " I do insure you, the religion is so hard, what 
with fasting and with the great watch, that there is not six whole 
monks within this cloister but that they have one infirmity or other, 
which will be their death sooner than God would that it should be." 1 

You may now ask : if these are the trials of a religious life, how can 
it be called a happy state? We answer that, though for the tepid re- 
ligious the monastic state is a hell, for him who truly loves God it is 
an earthly paradise. We have seen the dark side; now cast a glance, 
also, at the bright side. A member of that same Charterhouse, Mau- 
rice Chauncy, who had been so weak as to take the oath of supremacy, 
writing, in after years, when his heart was touched by contrition, 
speaks in glowing terms of his monastery. As Mr. Fronde remarks, 
Chauncy 's confession presents a loving, lingering picture of his clois- 
ter life, to him the perfection of earthly happiness. Those anxious to 
leave that monastic home were few. Ask most religious, they will 
tell you that they have found happiness even in the midst of suffering. 
They have experienced that the yoke of the Lord is light, and His 
burden sweet. A Carthusian lay-brother once said to the author that 
he would not exchange his condition for all Spain. As a rule, we can 
safely say, religious are happy, not with the happiness that the world 
gives, but by the inner peace of the soul. St. Bernard tells us that 
worldlings see only the sufferings of religious, but not their consola- 
tion, hence they judge them to be miserable. 

T Gasquet, Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. 



MONASTIC SUFFERINGS. 



61 



Even from a philosophical standpoint, the religious is happy. 
Freedom from worldly care, rest of mind, regularity of life, the exer- 
cise of contemplation conduce, more than anything else, to a man's 
happiness. All this the religious possesses. Moreover God compen- 
sates for his sufferings by the consolation He grants to the fervent soul. 
But again, we repeat, that this happiness is only for the one who 
knows that he has here no lasting dwelling-place, who has centred 
his hopes on heaven, who is dead to the world and to himself. We 
therefore say, with St. Alphonsus, to any one intending to enter re- 
ligion : Be resolved to suffer and to suffer much, and we add with 
the words of Jesus Christ : " And you will find rest for your soul." 




/ 



P/VRT II. 

THE MONKS. 



The Earliest Days of Monasticism. 



THE ESSENES. — THERAPEUTVE. — ST. PACHOMIUS. — ST. ATHANASIUS. — ■ 
MONKS IN GAUL. 

THE history of the monastic life does not begin with Christianity, 
it ascends beyond it, until it plunges into the night of ages. A 
species of monasticism existed among the ancient Gentile nations of 
the world, and found a home in Judaism, the ancestor of Christianity. 
India had its ascetics before Alexander led his victorious armies to 
the banks of the Ganges, and Buddhism was fertile in monks and mon- 
asteries. The Greek, Pythagoras, and his disciples, went by the name 
of Cenobites. 

In Judea there existed on Mount Carmel the school of the " Chil- 
dren of the Prophets," who owed their origin to Elias and Eliseus. 
These, it is probable, may be identified with the Essenes of later Jew- 
ish history. The latter first appear in the second century B. C, and they 
are spoken of by Philo and Flavius Josephus. Their life, as pictured 
to us by Josephus, agrees in many respects with that of the Christian 
monks. In his Wars of the Jews, he writes thus concerning them : 
"These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, 
and the conquest over our passions to be virtuous. They neglect 
wedlock, but choose out other persons' children, while they are pli- 
able, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, 
and form them according to their own manners. They do not abso- 
lutely deny the fitness of marriage and the succession of mankind 
thereby continued. 

" These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative 
as to excite general admiration. Nor is there any one to be found 
among them who has more than another, for it is a law among them 
that those who come to them must let what they have be common to- 

62 



THE MONKS. 



63 



the whole order, insomuch that among- them all there is no appear- 
ance of poverty, or excess of riches ; but every one's possessions are 
intermingled with every other's possessions, and so there is, as it were, 
one patrimony among all the brethren." 1 The same author tells us 
that the Essenes loved to be clothed in white garments, that they 
practised hospitality and an extraordinary piety, and led a community 
life. Candidates desirous of entering their sect were required to un- 
dergo a preparation of one year, after which they approached nearer 
to them, but spent two more years before being finally admitted into 
their societ}^. They were required to bind themselves by oath. 
Those guilty of heinous sins were dismissed from the society. The 
Essenes were generally long lived, and this, no doubt, is to be ascribed 
to the regularity of their habits. 

During the wars with the Romans, many of them suffered great 
tortures with heroic fortitude rather than transgress their laws. 

Baronius, in his annals, tells us that their institution flourished un- 
der a Christian form in Alexandria, while St. Mark was bishop of 
that See ; * audit may therefore with probability be considered as 
the origin of the monastic state. 

Philo the Jew makes mention of another institution which flourished 
in Egypt, namelv, that of the Therapentce, who led the lives of solitaries, 
and who have, by some authors, been identified with the Christian as- 
cetics. It is certain that at a very early period of Christianity there ex- 
isted men who practised a more perfect life than ordinary Christians, 
and that virginity was held in the highest esteem. It is also probable 
that there existed monasteries of Christian virgins at a very remote 
period. 

St. Paul, the first hermit, alarmed at the clanger which threatened 
him during the persecution of Decius, in the third century, fled from 
the world to seek refuge in a desert. He is the first one who is known 
to have embraced the eremitical life. 

St. Anthony, also a native of Egypt, sought refuge in the desert, in 
order to serve God with greater facility. He became the father of 
the Cenobites, or those who lead a community life. His sister gov- 
erned a convent of women. Anthony beheld a great many disciples 
gathered around him, and became their superior. 

The first one to draw up a rule for the guidance of religious and 
unite them together in a monastery was St. Pachomius. About the 
year 340, he founded an institution at Tabenna, in the Nile, in which 
his monks lived under the same roof. His disciples, becoming very 
numerous, he established eight other monasteries, seven for men and 

1 Bk. II. Chap. VIII. 2 See Carmel in America, Currier, Chap. I. 



64 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



one for women, under the direction of his sister. All these recog- 
nized a common superior, who bore the name of Abbot or Archiman- 
drite. At the death of St. Pachomius, in 348, his order numbered 
7,000 monks, and in the fifth century it counted as many as 50,000. 1 

At the present day there exist monks in Palestine and Africa who 
belong to the Order of St. Anthony, although this saint himself never 
founded a particular order. It was only after the Rule of St. Basil 
had begun to spread, that other monks who greatly venerated St. An- 
thony began to designate themselves by his name although they fol- 
lowed the rule of the former saint. Monks of the Order of St. An- 
thony are to be found among the Maronites of Mount Lebanon. 
There are also schismatics of the same name among the Jacobites, 
Copts, and Abyssinians, a remnant, probably, of the ancient solitaries 
of the desert. From Egypt, monastic life spread throughout Pales- 
tine, Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Asia Minor. Before 
the end of the fourth century, Egypt and the neighboring countries 
counted seventy -two thousand monks, and twenty thousand nuns. 2 

The monastic life was transplanted to the West by St. Athanasius 
in 340, and several establishments were founded in Italy, Gaul, Spain, 
and Ireland. The most ancient monastery of Gaul, according to the 
common opinion of historians, was that of Liguge, founded by St. 
Martin of Tours at the gates of Poitiers, with the concurrence of St. 
Hilary, bishop of that city. 3 The same saint established another mon- 
astery at Marmoutier, half a league from Tours, his episcopal see. 
Sulpicius Severus, disciple of St. Martin, endeavored to introduce 
among the monks of Gaul the austere abstinence that had been prac- 
ticed by those of the East, but he soon discovered that what is suited 
to one country and climate is not always suitable for another. 4< We 
are accused of gluttony," said his monks, " but we are Gauls ; it is 
ridiculous and cruel to make us live like angels; we are not angels; 
once more we are onlv Gauls." 

In the beginning of the fifth centun^ was founded on the island of 
Lerins the famous monastery of that name, which became a celebrated 
school of theology and Christian philosophy, and a blessing for the 
whole of Gaul. St. Cassarius, a monk of this monastery, composed a 
rule for communities of men, and one for the monastery of women 
which he founded in the town of Aries of which he was archbishop. 

St. Patrick, the great Apostle of Ireland, had been a student in the 
monastery of Marmoutier and, probably, in that of Lerins. Associat- 

1 History of the Church by Birkhasuser. 

2 Migne: Dictionnaire des Ordres Religieux, by Helyot. 
8 Monks of the West by Montalembert, I. Book iii. 



THE MONKS. 



65 



ed to the name of Patrick is that of St. Bridget, who founded the first 
female monastery in Ireland, under the name of Kildare. Innumer- 
able convents of women trace their origin to this saint, who died at 
Kildare at the age of seventy. Before the death of St. Patrick, monas- 
ticism had spread over the entire island of Erin. Celebrated among 
the sanctuaries of Ireland were the monasteries of Bangor and Clon- 
fert. The monastic homes on the island were renowned for their cul- 
tivation of learning, not only sacred, but also profane, for Irish monks 
were familiar with the works of classic antiquity. 

At this period there existed, properly speakings no monastic order. 
There were almost as many rules as there w T ere monasteries. Most of the 
great leaders of the cenobitical institution, since St. Pachomius, had 
given instructions, under the name of Rule, to their immediate disciples, 
but none of these had acquired an extensive or lasting sway, with the ex- 
ception of that of St. Basil, of which we shall treat elsewhere. 



GREAT SAINTS OF PRIMITIVE MONASTICISM. 



ST. PAUL. — ST. ANTHONY.— ST. AMMON.— ST. PACHOMIUS. — ST. MACAR- 
IUS. — ST. PAMBO.— ST. THAIS.— ST. HILARION. — ST. SABAS. 

^ANE of the earliest saints of the oriental deserts, who is generally 
\J known as the First Hermit, was St. Paul, whose life was com- 
piled by St. Jerome from the account of two disciples of the saint, 
Amathas and Macarius. This saint, a native of the Lower Thebaid in 
Egypt, had lost his parents at the age of fifteen. From his childhood 
he was given to the service of God, and he made great progress in 
Greek and Egyptian learning. Fearing the persecutions to which the 
Church was subject during the reign of the emperor Decius in the 
third century, where all means were resorted to in order to cause 
the apostasy of Christians, the youthful Paul fled into the desert. 
There he found many caverns in a rock, which were said to have been 
the retreat of money-coiners in the time of the Egyptian queen, Cleo- 
patra. Taking up his dwelling in a Cave, he lived on the fruit of an 
adjacent palm-tree, which also furnished him leaves for raiment, while 
a clear spring near-by supplied him with drink. Paul was then twen- 
ty-two years old. Me did not have the intention of spending his whole 
life in the desert, but of serving God until after the persecution. How- 
ever, the solitude he dwelt in effected within him such a union with 
God that he resolved to return no more to the company of men. His 
name might have remained unknown forever had it not pleased God 
to manifest the sanctity of His servant. 

There was then living in one of the Egyptian deserts a man of great 
sanctity and great renown, whom adivine revelation brought to the sol- 
itude of St. Paul ; this man was St. Anthoiry, the father of the Cenobites. 
He was born in 25 1 at Coma, a village near Heraclea, in upper Egypt. 
While still a young man he lost his parents, and touched by the grace of 
God, he resolved to abandon the world, having first placed his sister in a 
house of virgins. He then retired into solitude, where manual labor, 
prayer, and pious reading became his sole occupation. Whatever vir- 
tue he saw practised by others, he endeavored to imitate. The en- 
emy of the human race did all in his power to draw him from the path 

60 



GREA T SAINTS OF PRIMITIVE MONASTICISM. 



67 



of virtue, but the saint vanquished him by mortification, prayer, and 
humility. Seeking a more remote solitude, he withdrew further from 
Coma and hid himself in an old sepulchre, where the devil returned to 
the assault, going so far as even to ill-treat him. But the grace of God 
did not abandon him, and he came victorious out of the combat. About 
the year of 285, he crossed the eastern branch of the Nile, aud took up 
his abode in the ruins of an old castle on the top of the mountains, in 
which solitude he lived nearly twenty years, very rarely seeing a. hu- 
man being. To satisfy the importunities of others, about theyeai-305, 
the fifty-fifth of his age, he came down from his mountain, and found- 
ed his first monastery at Phaium. 

The lives of the saints are a constant struggle, for " many are the 
tribulations of the just." St. Anthony, like other saints, had exper- 
ienced the truth, that suffering follows us withersoever we go, whether 
in the company of men or in the depths of solitude. His life had been 
a vicissitude of pain and rest. His twenty years of peaceful solitude 
were at an end, and, as he once more descended among men, his soul 
was harassed by distractions, which threw him into a temptation of 
despair that he overcame by prayer and hard manual labor. 

His first monastery consisted of scattered cells near the confines of 
Upper and Middle Egypt. After some time, finding this place not 
solitary enough, he travelled toward the East, and, in three days, ar- 
rived at the great mountain toward the Red Sea. where he built anoth- 
er monastery in which he spent the last years of his life. During 
the persecution of Maximinus in 311, he went to Alexandria, hoping to 
receive the crown of mart)- dom, and in order to encourage the martyrs. 
In 312 he returned to his monastery. He cultivated and pruned a 
little garden on his mountain, and also made mats as an ordinary oc- 
cupation. In 355, at the request of the bishops, he undertook a journey 
to Alexandria to confound the Arians. 

When St. Anthony was ninety years old, he was tempted to vanity, 
as if no one had served God so long in the desert as he had done, but 
the following night, in a dream, he was commanded by God to go in 
quest of a perfect servant of His, concealed in the more remote partsof 
the deserts. The next morning he set out in quest of the unknown sol- 
itary. After two days and a night he discovered the abode of St. Paul 
the hermit, and the two saints recognized each other by divine revela- 
tion. St. Paul lived but a short time after this, for when St. Anthony 
returned to him within a brief period, the soul of the saintly inhabitant 
of the desert had taken its departure to a better world. St. Anthony 
survived him a few years, and followed him to the grave in 356, being 
one hundred and five years of age. 



68 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, 



The example and instructions of this saint have been the most per- 
fect rule for the monastic life in all succeeding ages. If we read the 
maxims of the Fathers of the desert, we discover that very little has 
been written by ascetics of a later date which has not been foreshadow- 
ed by the sayings and doctrine of those inhabitants of the Egyptian 
wilderness. Hence Rodriguez, in his " Christian Perfection," con- 
stantly cites their maxims and their examples. 

While St. Anthony was instructing his monks, St. Ammon was 
founding his monasteries in the desert of Nitria. The disciples of 
this saint first lived dispersed in separate cells, till St. Anthony advised 
him to found a monastery under a superior. These two saints some- 
times visited each other. St. Ammon preceded St. Anthony to the 
tomb. The monastic life which he had established in Nitria flourished 
sto such an extent, that, according to the testimony of Cassian, at the 
close of the fourth century there were fifty monasteries on Mount 
Nitria, inhabited by a thousand monks. 

About the year 325, twenty years after St. Anthony had founded 
his first monastery, St. Pachomius, who for some time had been living 
in the desert under the direction of St. Palemon, built a little cell at 
Tabenna, which soon grew to be a large monastery, and gave rise to a 
monastic congregation that subsisted in the East until the eleventh 
century. The saint lived to see seven thousand monks in his different 
monasteries, and died in the year 348. 

About five years after St. Pachomius had built his first cell at Ta- 
benna, St. Macarius the Elder fled from the world to the desert of 
Scete. Innumerable disciples joined him, and they all lived in sepa- 
rate cells. He paid at least one visit to St. Anthony, and died in 390, 
having spent sixty years of his life in the desert. Another Macarius, 
surnamed the Younger, retired into the desert of Thebais about the 
year 335. Hence he removed to Lower Egypt before the year 373. 
He died in 394. One of the disciples of St. Anthony was St. Pambo, 
who afterwards retired to the desert of Nitria, where he led a most 
austere life and died at the age of seventy. 

Not only men, but also the weaker sex sought refuge in the deserts 
of Egypt to serve God in greater security. Some of these were per- 
sons who had led a sinful life, and who, touched by grace, determined 
to give the remainder of their days to the exercise of penance. 
Among these was St. Thais who lived in the fourth century. Her 
life had been one of the greatest scandal, but, converted by the words 
of St. Paphnutius, she publicly burned all the wealth she had acquired 
by her sins, and retired to a monastery of women, where she lived in a 
cell for three years in a spirit of great humility and penance. At the 



GREA T SAINTS OF PRIMITIVE MONASTICISM. GO 

expiration of this period she was admitted to the community, but she 
lived only fifteen days longer, and died about the year 348. 

While St. Anthony and his disciples were leading the lives of ascet- 
ics in Egypt, St. Hilarion followed the same conduct in Palestine. 
This saint, a native of that country, having been converted to Chris- 
tianity, went to Egypt to see St. Anthony, with whom he stayed two 
months, after which he returned to his own country. He was then 
only fifteen years of age. He retired into the deserts of Palestine 
about the year 307, and spent about twenty years alone. The report of 
his sanctity having been noised abroad, numerous disciples joined him. 
Until then, the penitential life of the Egyptian solitaries was unknown in 
Syria and Palestine, so that St. Hilarion is justly considered its found- 
er in those countries. He died about the year 371, 

One of the most illustrious patriarchs of the monks of Palestine was 
St. Sabas, born in Cappadocia, in 439. He established a laura, or con- 
gregation of cells, which became famous in the history of oriental 
monasticism. Sallust, patriarch of Jerusalem, appointed him exarch 
or superior-general of all the monks of Palestine who lived in separate 
cells, while St. Theodosius filled the same position in regard to those 
who dwelt in community, and who were called Cenobites. St. Sabas 
died in the year 532. 

* The most flourishing period of the solitary life of Egypt and Pales- 
tine w T as in the fourth and fifth centuries. After the establishment of 
the Order of St. Basil in the East and that of St. Benedict in the West, 
it began to decline, though it has continued down to our own days, in 
which it exists in a state of decrepitude, and languishes in schism. Un- 
fortunately all the monks did not walk in the footsteps of their patri- 
archs Anthony and Hilarion, but many of them fell into heresy, and 
even into a state of vagabondage. 



EARLY SAINTS OF MONASTIC GAUL. 



ST. MARTIN. — ST. HONORATUS.— ST. HILARY. — ST. VINCENT OF LERINS. 
— ST. MAXENTIUS. — ST. SEQUANUS. 

ST. Martin, bishop of Tours, has the glory of being one of the most 
illustrious founders of the monastic state in Gaul He was born 
at Sabaria, a town of Upper Pannonia, about the year 316. At the age 
of ten he enrolled himself among the catechumens. Though his inclin- 
ation directed him to a monastic life, he was forced, when fifteen 
years old, to enter the army of imperial Rome. About three years 
later he received the sacrament of Baptism, but still continued almost 
two years in the army. Having finally left the military service, he 
went to St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, by whom he was made exorcist. 
He then paid a visit to his own country, where he converted his 
mother and many others. Having heard in Italy that St. Hilary had 
been banished by the heretics, he chose a retreat near Milan, where 
he entered upon monastic life. In 360 he returned with St. Hilar) 7 to 
Poitiers, and obtained a spot of land called Locociagum, now Liguge, 
where he built a monastery which is said to have been the first in 
Gaul. In 371 St. Martin was chosen bishop of Tours, he having been 
preceded by St. Gatian, the founder of that see, and by St. Litorius. 
Soon after his appointment, he established the monastery of Marmou- 
tier, outside of Tours, on the banks of the Loire. Most of his disciples 
took up their abode in caves in the rock. This monastery beqame 
one of the most famous in Gaul. Here the saintly monk-bishop lived 
with his disciples in the practice of virtue and austerity, and the rep- 
utation of the monastery of Marmoutier spread far and wide. This 
great saint of God departed from earth about the year 397. The cell, 
sanctified by the virtues of the great archbishop of Tours, was, for 
five years after his death, occupied by another saint, his biographer, 
Sulpicius Severus,who, it is said, afterwards retired to a monastery at 
Marseilles. Sulpicius Severus, who was a widower, had lived for 
some time in retirement in a cottage in the village of Primuliacus. 

One of the most famous monasteries of Gaul in the fifth century was 
that of Lerins. Not far from the coast of Provence there are two 
small islands called St. Marguerite and St. Honore. The latter in the 

70 



EARLY SAINTS OF MONASTIC GA UL. 



n 



fifth century bore the name of the Isle of Lerins. St. Honoratus, of 
a consular Roman family, which had settled in Gaul, having renounced 
inhisyouth the worship of idols and embraced Christianity, established 
a monastery on that island about the year 400. Some of his monks 
lived in community, while others followed the eremitical life. He 
borrowed his rule chiefly from that of St. Pachomius. In 426 St. 
Honoratus was forced to quit his beloved solitude, and, against his 
inclination, to accept the dignity of Bishop of Aries. 

One of the most illustrious disciples of St. Honoratus was St. Hilary, 
his successor in the See of Aries. This saint had lived at Lerins under 
the guidance of St. Honoratus, whom he followed to Aries, but the 
love of solitude caused him to return to his monastery, where he was 
not permitted to remain long, as his compan}^ was desired by St. 
Honoratus. He succeeded to the See of Aries about the year 428. 
The virtues he had learned in solitude shone with greater lustre after 
his exaltation to the episcopacy. His patience was sorely tried by 
various difficulties he encountered in the administration of his diocese. 
He died the death of the saints on May 5th, 449. 

Among those who have added lustre to the religious state in Gaul, 
St. Vincent of Lerins stands prominent. He left the world, where he 
had led a military life, in order to escape from its dangers, and took 
up his abode in the island of Lerins, off the coast of Provence in the 
Mediterranean. He spent not his time in idleness, for besides labor- 
ing at his own salvation, he also turned his attention to refuting the 
errors of his time. We have from him a work which he composed in 
434, and entitled : A Commonitory Against Herctices. He wrote under 
the pseudonym of Peregrinus. The general principles he lays down 
are weapons not only against the heresies which existed in his day, but 
against those of all times. St. Vincent died before the close of the 
year 450. 

About sixty-five years later, in 515, died St. Maxentius, who had 
been abbot of a monastery in Poitou, a man of extraordinary sanctity 
and gifted with the power of working miracles. In the same century, 
St. Calais, a native of Auvergne, imitated the lives of the eastern soli- 
taries and founded the monastery which at a later period gave its 
name, that of the saint, to the little town that sprang up around 
it. This saint died in 542. A few years earlier, in 533, had died an- 
other holy abbot, St. Thierri, in the monastery of Mount d'Hor, near 
Rheims. 

St. Sequanus, who died in 580, had retired from the world into the 
monastery of Reome in Auxois, since called Moutier St. Jean. The 
occasion of this step were the persecutions he endured from certain 



72 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



persons envious of his merits. After perfecting himself in the study 
of the Scriptures and in the practise of all religious virtues, he built a 
monastery in the forest of Segestre, near the source of the river Seine, 
where he spent the remainder of his life. 



THE HOLY PLACES OF MARMOUTIER. 



TOMB OF ST. MARTIN. — ROAD TO MARMOUTIER. — LADIES OF THE SACRED 
HEART.— SEVEN SLEEPERS. — REPOSE OF ST. MARTIN.— BENEDICTINE 
ABBEY. 

MORE than fourteen centuries have passed since the great Arch- 
bishop of Tours laid the foundations of the monastic state in 
Gaul upon the banks of the Loire. To-day, after so many social and 
political revolutions in that same Gaul, the places hallowed by the 
penances of Martin and his disciples, still bear witness to the heroism 
of those early days. The splendid Benedictine abbey of a later date 
has almost entirely disappeared, but the dwellings of the early monks, as 
lasting as the rock that contains them, have defied the gnawing tooth 
of time. They have witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties as well as 
forms of government ; they have flourished with the Church in her 
prosperity ; they have sighed with her in the days of her adversity, 
but, unchangeable as the solid rock, they stand there still as Martin 
left them, embellished by the hand of man, but still showing their stern 
and austere reality. Many are the pilgrims who, from various parts 
of the globe, direct their footsteps to the tomb of St. Martin and the 
sanctuary of Marmoutier. It shall ever be one of the pleasing recollec- 
tions of our life that we had the privilege of belonging to their num- 
ber. We were well aware that Tours had been in mediaeval times for 
France, what Compostella was for Spain, and Rome for the whole of 
Christendom, but of the present condition of the sanctuary of St. Mar- 
tin we knew nothing. It was then a justifiable curiosity that directed 
our steps toward this venerable city. We had left Orleans in the 
morning with its. recollections of the maiden to whom it has given its 
name, and a few hours' travel by rail had brought us to Tours. Our 
first thought was to seek the church of the great Archbishop. Nor 
had we long to seek, for at a short distance from our hotel a beauti- 
* ful edifice marked the spot where Martin was buried. 

Of the ancient basilica nothing remains save a few subterranean chap- 
els, above which a magnificent modern church in the Byzantine style 
has been erected. Beneath it is the crypt where the mortal remains 

73 



74 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of the saint once reposed, but the impious breath of the French revo- 
lution has swept them away, and naught is now in the sanctuary save 
an empty tomb, on which we had the happiness of offering up the 
Holy Sacrifice. 

If the devastating hand of man destroyed that which was mortal of 
the great saint of Tours, it could not annihilate the vestiges of his 
blessed life. It was a beautiful morning, and the rays of the sun illu- 
mined the ancient city as we wended our way along the tanks of the 
Loire to the spot hallowed by the anchorites of the West. The road 
leading to Marmoutier is in itself a relic. If the pilgrim crosses the 
Loire over the bridge of St. Symphorian, he leaves the limits of the an- 
cient GalJo-Roman city at the same spot where St. Gatian and the first 
Christians of Tours, and, afterwards, St. Martin and his disciples left 
it. We passed the river at the same spot where, after them, Eustatius, 
Perpetuus, Gregory, and other holy bishops of Tours passed it on their 
way to Marmoutier. On the right bank of the river a large modern 
road leads you to the Convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, 
which stands on the site of, the ancient abbey. This was not the one 
followed by the saints of old and the pilgrims of Mediaeval times; 
theirs passed before the Church of St. Symphorian and reached Mar- 
moutier by St. Radegund. It is still called the Road of St. Martin. 
Around the Convent of the Sacred Heart are to be seen arched doorways, 
Mediaeval towers, and ancient buildings, remnants of the important abbey 
where once the sons of St. Benedict lived and ruled over the surrounding 
country. Against the rocky sides of the hill back of the convent, or rather 
within them, beneath the Castle of Rougemont, is the series of grottoes 
where Martin and his disciples lived, and prayed, and suffered. The prin- 
cipal one of these is called the Chapel of the Seven Sleepers. These were 
seven religious who, after a life of sanctity, under the direction of St. Mar- 
tin, and, afterwards, of his successors, Gualbert and Aicadrius, died all on 
the same day, and who, after their death, appeared so fresh and beau- 
tiful that they seemed to be asleep rather than dead. They were bur- 
ied in the oratory, excavated in the rock, where they had been accus- 
tomed to pray, and there their tombs are seen to the present time. 
The oratory was tastefully adorned by the pious care of Madame de 
Montalembert, sister of the distinguished author of that name, while 
she was superior of the convent. According to tradition, these saintly 
religious were cousins of St. Martin. Their feast was celebrated in 
the abbey until the fatal days of the Revolution. " The oratory of the 
Seven Sleepers," says Dr. Pouan, the author of a little pamphlet on the 
" Holy Places of Marmoutier," " is one of those blessed spots where one 
prays better, feels nearer to heaven, and where a sweet perfume of sane- 



INTERIOR OF THE GROTTO OF ST. MARTIN AT M ARMOUTIER. 



THE HOL Y PLA CES OF MARMO U TIE II. 



75 



tity is inhaled which penetrates and fortifies the soul." In the begin- 
ning of this century, there still existed within this chapel an altar said 
to have been consecrated by St. Martin himself. A few years since, sev- 
eral persons were still alive who had seen the ancient altar in the grotto 
which had been profaned and converted into a stable. The chapel 
is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, as it was in the days of St. Martin. 

Adjoining the grotto of the Seven Sleepers is that of St. Gatian, first 
bishop of Tours, who, as St. Gregory tells us, was frequently obliged 
to hide in crypts and caverns, in order to offer up the Sacred Myster- 
ies. This grotto is dark, and it penetrates into the bowels of the earth. 
It is said that St. Gatian excavated it with his own hands. 

Another remarkable grotto is that of St. Leobard. This saint was 
born in Auvergne about the year 550. Touched by grace, he conse- 
crated his life toGodamongthe saintly men of Marmoutier who walked 
in the footsteps of St. Martin. Here he applied himself to the study 
of the Scriptures, the practice of virtue, and to manual labor. After 
twenty-two years of this life he died at Marmoutier, having first re- 
ceived the Bread of Angels from the hands of the holy bishop, St. 
Gregory of Tours. 

At the time of St. Martin the religious of Marmoutier had their cells, 
partly in the rock and partly built of wood, on the banks of the Loire. 
The saint himself occupied a wooden cell during the day, while at night 
he slept in a grotto dug out of the rock, which has been preserved to 
the present day. It is generally called " The Repose of St. Martin" 
About sixty years ago this grotto was destroyed, but the rock on which 
the saint had prayed and slept is still preserved. The ladies of the 
Sacred Heart have raised its walls again and restored the grotto to the 
veneration of the faithful. It was here, also, that Sulpicius Severus 
lived after the death of his guide and father. 

Not only did these saintly men live upon these precincts, but here 
they died and here they were buried. Several graves have been found 
upon the spot. Owing to the courtesy of the ladies of the Sacred 
Heart, we were enabled to visit those blessed places. We bent our 
knees upon the spot where St. Martin and his disciples had prayed, 
and where St. Brixius, the once wayward disciple of the saint, had 
done penance for the sorrow he had caused his master. As we left 
the sanctury and retraced our steps to Tours along the river Loire, 
the atmosphere seemed filled with the odor of sanctity, inspired by the 
recollections of the place ; visions of the ancient solitaries arose before 
us, and we thought of the early days of monastic Gaul, when an insti- 
tution was begun which was to act so important a part in the history 
of that country. * 



70 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The monastery, founded by St. Martin, adopted the rule of St. Ben- 
edict, which had been introduced into Gaul by St. Maurus, and it be- 
came one of the most important Benedictine abbeys of that country. 
It was sacked by the Normans in 853, and 116 of its monks were put 
to death. After a lapse of many years, the Benedictines returned to it. 
It grew to be very powerful, having many dependencies, not only in 
France, but also in the British Isles. The monks of this abbey were 
especially noted for their charity towards the sick members of the com- 
munity. In 1637, ^ was united to the congregation of St. Maurus, 





MONKS OF ST. BASIL 



MONKS OF ST. BASIL. 



LIFE OF ST. BASIL. — PROPAGATION OF HIS ORDER. — MUSCOVITE MONKS. 
— CONVERSION OF RUSSIAN MONKS. — REFORMATION OF THE ORDER 
IN ITALY. — BASILIANS IN SPAIN. — BAS1LIAN NUNS. — ARMENIAN 
MONKS.— MARONITES. 

QT. Basil is justly called the patriarch of the monks of the East: 



v3 f° r it was he who perfected the monastic institution in the Oriental 
Church and bound the monks by vows. He belonged to a family of 
saints, and counted them among- his nearest relatives. The city of 
Caesarea in Cappadocia had the honor of being the place of birth of 
the saint, who first beheld the light about the year 329. At Csesarea 
in Palestine he made the acquaintance of St. Gregory of Nazianzen, 
with whom he contracted a friendship that was to unite these two 
saints until death. They followed their studies together in the 
classic city of Athens, where the unfortunate nephew of Constantine, 
Julian the Apostate, was their fellow-pupil. 

After many years spent in study, feeling in his soul a growing 
antipathy for the vanities of life, St. Basil travelled through Egypt, 
Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, where he studied the religious life 
and made the acquaintance of many of the saints who professed it. 

Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, ordained him priest, but having at a 
later period conceived a feeling of jealousy against the saint, the lat- 
ter once more retired into solitude. After three years he was again 
recalled to Csesarea, and Eusebius, acknowledging his extraordinary 
talents, placed the entire management of the diocese in his hands, and 
allowed himself to be guided by the counsels of the saint. After the 
death of Eusebius, St. Basil was chosen bishop of Csesarea. His el- 
evation to the espiscopacy became the signal of persecution which the 
Arians'excited against him, and which he endured for a long time. 
He died January 1st, 379. 

The precise epoch of the foundation of the Order of St. Basil forms 
a subject of controversy among its historians. Helyot, following 
Herman, Tillemont, and others, places it about the year 358. In that 
year the saint retired into a desert of the Province of Pontus, whither 




78 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



he was followed by St. Gregory of Nazianzen, and where his sister, 
St. Macrina, had established a convent. There St. Basil built his first 
monastery of the monks of his order, to whom he gave a written rule. 

The Order of St. Basil soon spread over the East, and it was even 
introduced into Italy. According to Dom Alphonsus Clavel and other 
historians of the order, the rule was approved by Pope Liberius in 
363, by Pope Damasus in 366, and later by Saint Leo at the request of 
the emperor Marcian. It was subsequently approved by several other 
popes, and it made immense progress even during the lifetime of the 
holy founder. It underwent many vicissitudes in the East, and it 
was subject to great persecution during the reign of the emperor 
Constantinus Copronymus, who waged a furious war against the ven- 
eration of images. 

At the present day, the Basilian monks are divided into Catholics 
and schismatics. The schismatical monks of the Order of St. Basil 
are to be found principally in the Russian empire. The religious life 
was introduced into that country with the Christian religion itself, 
which the Russians received from the Greeks, with whom they after- 
wards separated from the See of Rome. 

Although the Muscovite monks follow the rule of Saint Basil, they 
have nevertheless changed it in various points. Monks and nuns are 
very numerous throughout Russia, and it is always from among the 
former who, of course, are celibates, that the episcopacy is recruited. 
Many of the Russian monks lead a very austere life ; they take the 
three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Those who break 
them and apostatize from the religious state are punished by perpet- 
ual imprisonment, nor can the bishops dispense any one from a vow. 

In the year 1595, many of the Basilian monks in White Russia re- 
turned to the communion of the Latin Church, and they were ad- 
mitted by Pope Clement VIII. The schismatics, however, subjected 
them to a cruel persecution, during which St. Josaphat Kuncevizzi, 
Archbishop of Polocko, suffered martyrdom on November 12, 1623. 
The Basilian monks in Russia, subject to the See of Rome, are under 
the jurisdiction of a chief archimandrite, chosen b} 7 themselves, in virtue 
of a privilege granted to them by Pope Urban VIII., October 4th, 1624. 
They are, nevertheless to a certain extent, subject to the jurisdiction 
of the metropolitan. Their occupation consists principally in preaching, 
the administration of the sacraments, and other ecclesiastical functions. 
Their habit differs from that of the Muscovite monks; but they follow 
the Greek rite, and say the office in the Slavonic language. 

The rule of St. Basil had, at an early period, been translated into Latin 
by Rufinus, and it was immediately introduced into the West, especially 



MONKS OF ST. BASIL. 



79 



into Italy, where its monasteries soon became very numerous. About 
the year 1 573, it had greatly degenerated in the last named country, 
and Pope Gregory XI II. endeavored to reform it. He united together 
into one body all the monasteries of the order in Italy, Spain, and 
other provinces subject to the Holy See, and decreed that every 
three years a general chapter should be held, in which a general, vis- 
itors, a procurator-general, and other officers should be elected. 
All the provinces united to the Latin Church he submitted to the au- 
thority of the general of the order. He also accorded them many 
privileges which were afterwards confirmed by Clement VIII. and 
Paul V. 

In the provinces of Sicily, Calabria, and Rome the Basilian monks 
follow the Greek rite, but conform in several details to that of the 
Latins, consecrating in unleavened bread, using vestments like those of 
the Latin Church, and adding to the Creed the Avords: "Qui ex Patre 
Filioque procedit." Some religious, however, in these provinces, by 
special privilege, conform to the Latin rite. At a later period it 
was decreed that the general chapters should be held only every 
six years. 

The Basilian monks in Italy fast in Advent and every Friday of the 
year; they eat meat once on three days of the week, namely, on Sun- 
day, Tuesday, and Thursday. They work in common at certain hours 
of the day. On Saturday they accuse themselves of their faults in 
chapter. Their habit much resembles that of the Benedictines. 

There are also Basilian monks in the Austrian empire. If the order 
had been introduced into Spain at an early period, it again disap- 
peared. During the reign of Pope Pius IV. it was once more re-es- 
tablished in that country. Certain religious men in the diocese of 
Jaen, having petitioned that Pope to be admitted into the order, as 
they had already followed the rule of St. Basil, their request was 
granted by a bull of January 18th, 1 561. Their superior, Father 
Bernard de la Cruz, made his profession in the hands of the abbot 
of Grotta Ferrata, and received that of his brethren. 

A few years later, Father Matthew de la Fuente introduced a re- 
form of the order at Tardon and at Valle de Guillos. Pope Gregory 
XIII. united those two monasteries with that of Our Lady of Oviedo 
in the diocese of Jaen into a province, to which the other monasteries 
of Spain were to belong, and subjected them to the jurisdiction of the 
abbot-general of the order in Italy. Clement VIII., however, again 
separated the two reformed monasteries of Tardon and Valle de Guillos 
from the others, forbidding the latter to receive novices. This pro- 
hibition was afterwards revoked, and the monasteries were divided into 



80 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the provinces of Castile and Andalusia, subject to a vicar-general un- 
der the jurisdiction of the general of the order. The Spanish Basil- 
ians follow the Latin rite. The superiors of their monasteries hold 
their office for three years, after which they cannot be re-elected until 
six years have elapsed. Each province holds a chapter every three 
years. They abstain from meat only on the days of ecclesiastical ab- 
stinence, but fast every Friday in the year, during Advent and on the 
vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and of Saint Basil. They 
take the discipline every Wednesday and Friday in Advent, and on 
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Lent. Twice a week they work 
in common. In summer they recite Matins at midnight, and in winter 
at three in the morning. They make an hour's meditation after Prime, 
and another in the evening, after Compline. Every Friday they ac- 
cuse themselves in chapter of faults committed against the rule. Their 
habit consists of a black cassock and scapular, and a hood. In choir and 
out of their monastery they wear a black cowl. The lay brothers 
have the same habit, with the exception of the cowl. They have also 
oblates, who wear the hajbit without the hood. 

In 1603, the monasteries of Tardon and Valle de Guillos, where the 
rigorous observance of the Basilian rule prevailed, were separated 
from the other monasteries, and formed a branch of the Basilian order 
known as that of the Reformed Basilians of Tardon. It never spread 
beyond a few monasteries in Spain. These religious unite manual 
labor with prayer, and in their fasts and abstinences resemble the 
Basilian monks of Italy. They do not wear the cowl, which garment 
Clement VIII. thought is not in accordance with the rule of St. Basil. 
They were submitted by the same Pope to the jurisdiction of the 
general. 

The Order of Saint Basil has given to the Church several popes and 
a great number of bishops. Many of its members have been canonized. 

There exist also monasteries of Basilian nuns. The first convent of 
these virgins was founded by Saint Macrina, sister of Saint Basil, who 
gave rules to it as well as to the other monasteries of nuns which he 
established. These religious also suffered during the persecution of Con- 
stantine Copronymus. 

The constitutions of the monastery built in 11 18, at Constantinople, 
by the empress Irene, give an idea of the regular observance which 
was practised by the Basilian nuns in the Greek Church. The relig- 
ious were to be received without a dowry, but any spontaneously- - 
offered gift might be accepted. The abbess was chosen by the com- 
munity, and might be deposed if found unworthy of governing. They 
had a spiritual father to whom they rendered an account of their 



ARMENIAN MONKS 



MONKS OF ST. BASIL. 



81 



thoughts, and two priests, taken from among the monks, were appoint- 
ed to administer the sacraments to them. The temporal administra- 
tion of the goods of the monastery was entrusted to an econome. 
While the nuns worked, one of their number read to them. They 
slept in a dormitory, observed great poverty, and practised rigorous 
abstinence. They were not entirely cloistered, and they were allowed 
to leave their monastery in order to visit their sick relatives. Women 
were allowed to enter their monastery, but they received the visits of 
men at the door, and they were always accompanied on such occasions 
by some of the ancient religious. They were allowed the use of the 
bath, which, certainly, is not inconsistent with sanctity, as cleanli- 
ness is next to godliness. In illness a physician was summoned. 

There are a considerable number of schismatic Basilian nuns in 
Russia and other oriental countries. Religious women following this 
rule, and in communion with the See of Rome, exist in Poland and in 
Italy. The latter follow at present the Latin rite, with the exception 
of the monastery of Philantropos at Messina, where the Greek rite has 
always been observed. 

A great number of monks are to be found among the schismatical 
Armenians. They belong to the Order of St. Anthony and to that of 
St. Basil. The former dwell in the deserts and lead very austere lives, 
surpassing in rigor the most reformed monasteries of Europe. Ac- 
cording to Helyot, they never eat meat or drink wine, except at Eas- 
ter. They fast all the year round, even on Sundays, and eat only once a 
day. The)- live on roots and vegetables, and abstain from fish, milk, and 
even oil. They never leave their monasteries, and speak to no one ex- 
cept through the porter. They dwell in separate cells, and they are con* 
stantly at work except during the hours of the Office and other exer- 
cises of the communit}\ They are all laymen with the exception of five 
or six priests in each monastery. For their Office they recite nightly 
the entire Psalter, standing with no support but a species 'of crutch. Ac- 
cording to this description, which Helyot says was given to him by two 
Armenian priests, these monks have preserved the mode of life of the 
ancient solitaries better than any other at present existing religious. 

The monks of the Order of St. Basil among the Armenians, as the 
same author remarks, are not as exact observers of their rule as 
those of St. Anthony. Their monasteries are generally situated near 
cities, and it is from their number that the ranks of the higher clergy 
are recruited. The Armenian monks of St. Basil also possess mon- 
asteries in Jerusalem. 

At the close of the last century, several Armenian monks of the Or- 
der of St. Anthony w r ere converted to the Catholic faith, and they es- 



82 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



tablished themselves in Morea, where the republic of Venice gave them 
a monastery. in the city of Modon. They continued, nevertheless, to 
follow the Armenian rite. Their habit is black, like that of the other 
monks of Armenia, but they wear on the left side a red cross as a token 
of their willingness to shed their blood for the faith of Christ. 

In the year 1307, several Catholic Armenian monks of the Order of 
St. Basil, flying from the persecution of the Turks, settled in Genoa, 
where they built a church in honor of the Blessed Virgin and St. Bar- 
tholomew, whence they were called Bartholomites. They afterwards 
established several other monasteries in Italy. In course of time, they 
changed their monastic habit for that worn by the lay-brothers of the 
Order of St. Dominic. They began to conform to the Latin Church 
for the recitation of the Divine Office, and to celebrate Mass according 
to the manner of the Dominicans, whose constitutions they adopted. 
They abandoned the rule of St. Basil for that of St. Augustine. Pope 
Innocent VI. approved of these changes in 1356. Boniface IX. for- 
bade these monks to pass over to any other order except that of the 
Carthusians, and made them participants in all the privileges of the 
Order of St. Dominic. Innocent X. seeing that they had grown great- 
ly relaxed, and that they were much reduced in numbers, suppressed 
their order in 1650, permitting them to pass over to other orders. 

Another branch of the Order of St. Basil had also become incor- 
porated into that of St. Dominic. About the year 1328, Father Dom- 
inic of Bologna, of the last named order, had been sent to Armenia by 
Pope John XXII. His example and that of his companions exercised 
such powerful influence over the superior of one of the Armenian 
monasteries, that by his intervention many schismatic monks were 
converted to Catholicity. One of the superiors instituted an order 
to which the name of United Brethren of Saint Gregory the Illumin- 
ator was given. Its members adopted the rule of St. Augustine and 
the Dominican constitutions, together with the habit of the Dominican 
lay-brothers. This was approved of by Pope John XXII. The or- 
der spread greatly throughout Armenia and Georgia. In 1356, the 
brethren obtained from Pope Innocent VI. permission to pass over to 
the Order of St. Dominic, of which they henceforward formed a prov- 
ince. 

There are in Egypt a number of schismatic monks of the Coptic rite 
who belong to the Order of St. Anthony, and lead a very austere life. 
Their monasteries are, for the greater part, situated in the desert, the 
principal of these being the monasteries of St. Anthony, St. George, 
and St. Macarius. They may be considered a remnant of the ancient 
solitaries of Egypt. 



COPTIC MONKS 



MONKS OF ST. BASIL. 



S3 



The Maronites who, as is well known, are united to the See of Rome, 
are also in possession of religious. These belong to the Order of St. 
Anthony. Both Maronites and Catholic Armenians possess monas- 
teries in Rome. 

The Maronites live principally in the neighborhood of Mount Leb- 
anon, though many of them are also found in Syria and Palestine at 
Seyda, Beyruth, Tripoli, Aleppo, and in the island of Cyprus. The 
origin of the name is a matter of doubt, some ascribing it to a heretic 
whose errors they once followed, others to St. Maron, an abbot who 
is said to have lived in the fifth century. Those who remained faith, 
fultothe Church adopted his name, as he had been instrumental in for- 
tifying them against heresy. At all events, the Maronites made a pro- 
fession of their faith in the year 1 182, in the hands of Aimeric, Latin pa- 
triarch "of Antioch, and they have remained strong in the faith ever 
since. One of the great industries of the Maronites, even monks, is 
the cultivation of the silkworm. The Maronite monks lead a very aus- 
tere life, some, it appears, after the manner of the ancient solitaries of 
Egypt and Palestine. They recite the Divine Office in the Syrian tongue, 
and at Mass use unleavened bread like the Latins. Their profession con- 
sists merely in the declaration of the novice that he wishes to be a re- 
ligious. This declaration is considered to imply the three essential 
vows. There are also nuns among the Maronites. Both monks and 
nuns are subject to the jurisdiction of the patriarch. 



\ 



GREEK MONKS. 

CALOYERS.— ANCHORITES. — LIFE OF GREEK MONKS. — RECEPTION OF 
CANDIDATES. — THEIR GOVERNMENT. 

THE esteem in which the monastic state is held by the Greek Church 
is so great that it is called therein the perfect state, similar to that 
of the angels, in which its members imitate the actions of Jesus Christ. 
The way to the highest ecclesiastical dignities is only opened to those 
who profess it. 

The Greeks give to their monks the title of Caloyers, which signifies 
Good Ancients. All these monks regard St. Basil as their father and 
founder, and would consider it a crime to follow any rule but his. 
They acknowledge three monastic degrees : the novices or arc/mri, the 
ordinary professed, or michrochemi, and the perfect, or megalochemi, to 
each of which a special habit belongs. They are also divided into Cen- 
obites, Anchorites and Recluses. The latter dwell in grottoes or cav- 
erns on the tops of mountains, which they never quit. They live on 
the alms sent them by the neighboring convents, and eat only once a 
day vegetables boiled in water, without salt or oil, and dried fruits 
with bread baked under the ashes, with the exception of solemn feasts, 
when they take two repasts. From time to time they are visited by 
the priests who administer the sacraments to them. 

The Anchorites retire from the conversation of the world and dwell 
in the neighborhood of monasteries in hermitages, to which a plot of 
ground is attached, which they cultivate. They leave their hermitages 
only on Sundays and festivals to perform their devotions in a neigh- 
boring monastery. The rest of the week is devoted to prayer and con- 
templation, while they practise great abstinence, and live on the work 
of their hands. 

The Cenobites dwell in monasteries in which their time is regulated 
by rule. They sing their Office at midnight, and end the day with Com- 
pline, which is sung after sunset. On the vigils of feasts they remain 
in choir until dawn, employing the whole night in reciting the Psalter, 
Matins, and Lauds, and in reading homilies. In case any one is over- 

84 




MARONITE MONKS 



GREEK MONKS. 



yd 



come by sleep, a religious is appointed to awaken him, and the one thus 
caught napping performs three genuflections at the door of the sanctuary , 
and, returning to his place, makes an inclination right and left to his 
brethren. 

Their Office is long, so that it takes six hours during the day to read 
it. This is the reason, says Helyot, why several among them easily 
dispense themselves from it. The books in which it is contained con- 
sist of six volumes, generally in folio. The first one is the Tiridion, 
which is recited in Lent ; the second, the Eucologion, contains the ora- 
tions.; the third, Parnclitiki, has on its pages the hymns, canticles, and 
antiphons which are recited in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and which 
are in great number. The fourth volume is called Pentecostarion ; it 
contains the Office to be recited from Easter to Pentecost. The fifth, 
Mineon, is the book of the Office of each month, and the sixth, or the 
Horologion, contains the canonical hours of every day. 

The length of this Office and the price of the books is the cause that 
few of the bishops, priests, and caloyers ever recite it. It is only on 
Mount Athos, or other well regulated monasteries, that it is generally 
kept up, the rest of the clergy, with the patriarch at their head, simply 
dispensing themselves from the obligation. 

In the large monasteries the monks rise at midnight to recite a spe- 
cial office called Mesonycticon, which lasts two hours, but, on great feasts, 
its place is taken by the Olynicticon, that occupies the whole night. 

After the Mesonycticon, the monk retires to his cell until five o'clock, 
when he returns to the church for Matins, Lauds, and Prime. The last 
coincides with sunrise, after which the religious go to their cells or to 
their work until nine, when they recite Tierce, Sext, and None. This is 
followed by dinner, during which they listen to the reading. After 
meals, the cook kneels at the door of the refectory, and says, from 
time to time, Eulogitepateres — bless me, fathers, — and each one answers : 
O TJicos syncorcsi — God bless you. All then retire to their cells or go 
to work until four, when they assemble in the church to recite vespers, 
after which follows a little exercise and supper at six, at the expiration 
of which they go to the church for an office which they call apodipho, 
equivalent to the Compline of the Latins. About 8 o'clock they retire 
to rest until midnight. 

Every morning after Matins, the monks prostrate themselves before 
their superior at the door of the church to accuse themselves of their 
faults. 

They never eat meat, and fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 
On fast-days they take their meal at two o'clock in the afternoon. 
They observe in common with the rest of the people four Lents. The 



8G 



HISTORY OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



first and Greatest of these is that of the Resurrection of Our Lord, which 
lasts eight weeks and which is a period of greatabstinence. During the 
first of these eight weeks, they are allowed to eat fish, eggs, milk, and 
butter, but, for the remainder of the season, these articles of diet, with the 
exception of some kinds of marine animals, are forbidden. They observe 
this Lent with such scrupulous exactitude, that, if in speaking, it be- 
comes necessary to mention the names of milk, butter, or cheese, they 
always add the parenthesis: " Timitis agias saracostis" — " with all re- 
spect for the holy Lent." 

The second Lent is that of the Holy Apostles, which commences 
eight days after Pentecost and lasts three weeks or more, during which 
the Greeks abstain from milk and meat diets. The Lent of the As- 
sumption of Our Lady is the third, and it lasts fourteen days. No fish is 
allowed during this period, with the exception of Sunday and the feast 
of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The fourth Lent of the Greeks 
corresponds to our Advent; it begins forty days before Christmas 
and it is observed like that of the apostles. Besides these four Lents, 
which are common to all' the people, the monks observe three others, 
namely, twenty-six days before the feast of St. Dimitrius, fifteen before 
that of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and eight days before 
that of St. Michael. All the Greeks also fast on Fridays and Wednes- 
days. 

The manner of receiving candidates into the monastic state is thus 
described by Helyot : Whosoever applies for admission is required to 
remain for sometime as postulant. Having been admitted, he is led to 
the church, when the superior asks him whether he comes to Christ 
through his own free will, if he is not driven to it by necessity, if he re- 
nounces the world and all its belongings, intends to persevere in the 
monastery and the exercises of the monastic life, to be submitted to his 
superior, and to preserve chastity until death. He then admonishes 
him to reflect seriously on the engagements he is about to contract, 
and reminds him that the angels stand ready to receive his vow, of 
which an account will be demanded of him at the day of Judgment* 
The postulant having satisfactorily answered these questions, the su- 
perior says : " Brotlier N. takes the commencement of the holy and monastic 
habit ; let us say for him : may the Lord show mercy to him." The monks 
repeat thrice: " May the Lord show mercy to him" He then cuts the 
candidate's hair in the form of a cross, saying: li Brother N. has his 
hair cut in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; let 
us say for him : may the Lord show mercy to him." On giving him the 
tunic he says : " Brother N. is glad with the tunic of justice as a pledge of 
the holy and angelical habit" etc. Giving him the biretta, he says : " Our 



{ 



GREEK MONKS. 



87 



brother N. receives the helmet on his head, in the name of the Father , of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost," etc. 

After three years, the novice receives the habit of the professed 
which is also called the little habit, and it is given with lengthy ceremo- 
nies. After his profession, the monk is obliged to remain five days in the 
church, occupied solely in prayer and meditation. The professed 
monk wears a species of veil over his cap. The great or angelical 
habit is also received with special ceremonies. These ceremonies, if 
at present observed in the few well-regulated monasteries, are ne- 
glected in most of the others. The fact is that most of the schismati- 
cal Greek monks are said to be very ignorant, so that few of them under- 
stand the original Greek in which their liturgical books are written. 
Their monasteries are visited by exarchs delegated by the patriarch, 
who seem to be more than all bent on extorting the taxes payable by 
the monastery to that dignitary. Besides these tributes, the monaster- 
ies are also taxed by the Turks, if they exist within the domains of the 
sultan. 

The superiors are elected by the religious and confirmed by the bish- 
op. In the large monasteries they are highly respected, but in the 
smaller ones their authority is considerably limited. The principal 
monasteries of the Greek monks are those of Mount Sinai, founded by 
the emperor Justinian; of St Sabas, in Palestine; and those of Mount 
Athos in Greece. The latter are held in the greatest esteem. 



THE BENEDICTINES. 

ST. BENEDICT.— HIS RULE.— THE HABIT OF HIS MONKS.— PROPAGA- 
TION OF THE ORDER.— CLUNY.— FULDA.— BURSFELD.— ENGLISH 
BENEDICTINES.— BENEDICTINES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

I. 

THE ORDER IN GENERAL. 

THE religious state, which had gradually been developed and per- 
fected in the East by the rule of St. Basil, reached its fullest de- 
velopment in that of St. .Benedict. Before the time of the saint, there 
had been monasteries in the West, certainly : St. Athanasius had made 
the religious state known to it, Cassian had communicated it to Gaul, 
and it had penetrated to the British Isles, but it was reserved to Saint 
Benedict to establish it upon a solid basis. 

This saint was born at Nurcia, in the diocese of Spoieto, about the 
year 480. At an early age, he fled from Rome, whither he had been 
sent to study, fearing lest the world should contaminate his heart, and 
he betook himself to the desert of Subiaco. Here he received the relig- 
ious habit from a monk called Romanus, and took up his abode in an 
almost inaccessiblegrotto. Here, too, he was severely tempted. The 
recollection of a woman whom he had seen at Rome was the cause of 
of this; but to overcome the temptation, he mortified his bodv and 
thus subjected it to the spirit. This victory of St. Benedict affords a 
great lesson. If the saint had yielded, the world might have been 
forever deprived of the Benedictine order, and humanity might have 
suffered an irreparable loss ; so true it is that causes apparently small 
have sometimes immense consequences. The world owes an eternal 
debt of gratitude to the victory which St. Benedict gained over his 
temptation. His sanctity could not remain concealed. The monksof 
a monastery situated between Subiaco and Tivoli, having heard 
of him, earnestly desired that he should become their abbot. He 
yielded to their importunities, but his disappointment must have been 
great when he discovered that their conduct was far from being edify- 
ing. The monks, tired of his remonstrances, soon regretted their 
choice, and some of them even attempted to poison him. The saint 

88 




BENEDICTINE MONKS 



THE BENEDICTINES. 



89 



then left them and returned to his former solitude. God again sent 
him other disciples, and, in a short time, he built twelve monasteries 
at Subiaco, in each of which he placed twelve religious with a super- 
ior, he, however, remaining at the head of all. Thus were laid the 
foundations of the great Benedictine order. 

The enmity of a bad priest again forced him to leave Subiaco, and 
he repaired to Monte Casino, where he destroyed some last vestiges 
of idolatry that there existed. Here he built a large monastery 
which was destined to become famous and act an important part in 
the history of the Middle Ages. He triumphed over all obstacles 
and beheld his work blessed by God. It was here that the great 
founder of the greatest of all religious orders ended his days in peace 
in the year 543. 

The Rule of St. Benedict, as Montalembert remarks, is the first that 
was written in the West and for the West ; it was the product of the 
genius of its author, who supplied what was wanting to that of St 
Basil. Its two fundamental principles and its foundation are labor 
and obedience. It was the model of all rules which followed, and it 
contained in substance whatever they worked out in detail. St. Bene- 
diet was an instrument in the hands of Divine Providence, raised up 
for the regeneration of society, although he does not appear to have 
foreseen the results of his work. He lived only in the present, for his 
own and his monks' salvation, but his influence was to be felt through 
future generations, and he was to be the founder of an empire that 
would triumph upon the ruins of Rome, and last long after Byzantium 
had fallen. His rule was austere, but it contained the essence of the 
religious life and the fullest practise of the evangelical councils, 

The Order of St. Benedict, by the will of its holy founder, was open 
to all kinds of persons without distinction, even children being received 
into it. The latter had their dormitory separate from that of the re- 
ligious, and the novices had also theirs apart from the others. The 
beds were separated by curtains or boards. The monks were divid- 
ed into tens, over each of which a dean was placed, while the prior 
presided over the entire community. The power of the abbot over 
the religious was absolute, and he was to govern them more by his ex- 
ample than by his authority. The cellares had charge of the tempor- 
al affairs of the house. The religious were all obliged to perform their 
share of domestic labor. They were bound to recite the Divine 
Office, of which St. Benedict himself laid down the rules. From the 
first of November until Easter they arose at two in the morning. The 
time which remained after Matins was spent in reading and medita- 
tion. After Prime they betook themselves to work until ten ; but from 



90 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the first of October until Easter, work began at Tierce and lasted until 
None, or three in the afternoon. In the beginning of the order, Mass 
was only said on Sundays and solemn feasts, and, on that occasion, 
all the religious received Holy Communion. After dinner, reading 
and work began again. Manual labor was proportioned to the strength 
of each one. At meal time, each religious received two portions, and 
sometimes a third. There was no fast between Easter and Pentecost ; 
but from Pentecost to the 13th of September, every Wednesday and 
Friday was a fast-day. The great daily fast lasted from the 13th of 
September until Easter. During Lent fasting became more rigor- 
ous and the religious did not eat until evening. The use of flesh meat, 
at least of quadrupeds, was never allowed, except to the sick. Even 
the children were subject to this rule. The receiving of young 
children into the Benedictine monasteries became afterwards a cause 
of relaxation of discipline, and it was consequently abolished. 

As regards the habit of the religious, Saint Benedict determined 
nothing concerning the color. It appears, says Helyot, that the habit of 
the ancient Benedictines consisted of a white tunic and black scapular. 
It was to be regulated to a great extent by the climate of the place. 
The Benedictines took vows of obedience and stability. 

Even during the life of the founder the Benedictine order began 
to spread. The first foundation was that of Sicily, to which Saint 
Placidus was sent by the saint himself. This was followed by a 
foundation in France where Saint Maurus, another disciple of Saint 
Benedict, established a monastery at Glanfeuil. It is not certain when 
the order was first introduced into Spain. It probably entered into 
England with Saint Augustine, who, in company with several monks, 
was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons. 
The Benedictines grew to be very powerful in England, where they 
possessed many monasteries until the reign of Henry VIII. The or- 
der sent forth its missionaries to the heathen nations of the north of 
Europe, which they gradually converted to Christianity. St Willi- 
brord, Apostle of the Frisians ; St. Boniface, who preached the Gospel 
to the Germans, and other missionaries were probably Benedictine 
monks, who founded monasteries in various places. 

In course of time, relaxations crept into the order, in consequence 
of which numerous reformations have taken place. One of the oldest 
of these was that effected by St. Benedict of Aniane in the ninth 
century. The saint, being appointed superior of the abbeys in France, 
a council held at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the beginning of the same century, 
enacted several decrees of reformation for the order, although in a 
few minor details it mitigated the rule. 



THE BENEDICTINES. 



91 



The Order of Saint Benedict, having spread over the whole of Eu- 
rope, was in course of time divided into various congregations. One 
of the most important of these was that of Cluny. 

II. 

CLUNY. 

The monastery of Cluny was founded by William, Duke of Aqui- 
taine, about the year 910, with St. Berno as the first abbot. Several 
monasteries were erected in course of time, which remained subject 
to the abbot of Cluny. Pope Agapetus II., in 946, exempted the Con- 
gregation of Cluny from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries of dioceses, and 
subjected it immediately to that of the Holy See. In many of the 
monasteries of France, England, and Spain, regular observance had been 
neglected to such an extent that the very name of St. Benedict's rule 
had become almost obsolete, for after the death of St. Benedict of 
Aniane, the order had again degenerated. Cluny, however, gave a 
magnificent example of religious observance, and drew numerous 
monasteries to the imitation of its virtue. The Divine Office was al- 
ways there celebrated with great solemnity, silence was observed 
with the utmost exactitude, and the monastery was also noted for its 
charity toward the poor, so much so, that in the beginning of Lent, 
food was distributed to seven thousand indigent persons. The reputa- 
tion of the Order of Cluny spread over the face of Europe, and monas- 
teries subject to its jurisdiction w r ere founded not only in France, but 
also in Germany, England, Spain, Italy, and even in the East. Father 
Mabillon is of opinion that the custom of attaching oblates to the order 
began at Cluny. 

However, all earthly things are subject to decay, nor did the Or- 
der of Cluny form an exception. Ponce, the seventh abbot, did not 
walk in the footsteps of his saintly predecessors, and his conduct pro- 
duced division in the monastery. The evil caused by this man was 
nevertheless remedied to a great extent by his successor, Peter the 
Venerable, who made several regulations which tended to strengthen 
the observance. In course of time, relaxations were again introduced, 
and the custom of eating meat began in the order. Measures of reform 
were taken at various intervals, but, after 1528, John of Lorraine, hav- 
ing become commendatory abbot of Cluny, the order became greatly 
relaxed. 

In the seventeenth century, the reform known as that of the Strict 
Observance of Cluny, was effected, principally through the efforts of 
Cardinal de Richelieu. At the epoch of the French Revolution, how- 



92 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



ever, the Order of Cluny was suppressed by the civil government, and 
it disappeared. The religious of the order wore a black habit. 

III. 

FULDA. 

The Congregation of Fulda was one of the ancient branches of the 
Benedictine order. The abbey of that name had been founded by 
St. Boniface, Apostle of German)'. It was situated between Hesse, 
Franconia, and Thuringia, in the present Province of Hesse-Nassau.. 
In course of time it became subject to the immediate jurisdiction of 
the Holy See, and its riches were greatly augmented. It was in .Iris 
monaster)' that the celebrated Rabanus Maurus flourished in the ninth 
century. Like other similar institutions it had its vicissitudes of re- 
laxation and reformation. The Congregation of Fulda exists at pres- 
ent, as I was told by a Benedictine abbot, only in its female branch. 

IV. • 

CONGREGATION OF BURSFELD IN GERMANY. 

The Congregation of Bursfeld was begun by John of Meden, relig- 
ious of the abbey of Rheinhausen, who, on his return from the Coun- 
cil of Constance, held in 1414, endeavored in vain to persuade the 
monks of the abbey to accept the reforms which the Council desired 
to introduce. He then established himself at the abbey of Cluse, when, 
with several novices, he began to practise the strict observance. He 
afterwards obtained the ruined abbey of Bursfeld, founded in 1098, 
by Henry, Count of Northeim, and there he took up his abode. 
Many monasteries afterwards accepted the reform, and, in 1464, they 
were -united into one congregation, of which John of Hagen, succes- 
sor of John of Meden, as abbot of Bursfeld, became president. 

V. 

CONGREGATION OF ST. MAURUS. 

The congregation which bore this name was one of the most illus- 
trious of the Order of St. Benedict, both in virtue and in science. The 
Council of Trent, which was brought to a close in 1563, had decreed 
that independent monasteries.should either be united into congregations* 
or be submitted to undergo the visits of the bishops. In consequence 
of this, several Benedictine monasteries in France united, rather, as 
Helyot remarks, to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the bishops 
than for the sake of reformation. The evil was so deeply rooted that 
Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, Papal Legate in the dioceses of Metz,. 



THE BENEDICTINES. 



93 



Toul, and Verdun, proposed to Pope Clement VIII. to suppress the Or- 
der of St. Benedict in the provinces of his legation. But God had in 
store a better means to bring about the desired reformation ; Dorn Di- 
dier de la Cour, religious of the Abbey of St. Vanne at Verdun, was 
chosen by Divine Providence to inaugurate it. The relaxation of 
the monks in France had at first caused him to think of entering 
another order; he consulted on this subject several enlightened per- 
sons, but he was advised to remain in his condition and to lead as reg- 
ular a life as was possible. After ten months of solitude and penance, he 
finally joined the Minims, who gave him their habit. Hecould not, how- 
ever, forget the Order of St. Benedict, and, leaving the Minims, returned 
to his monastery of St. Vanne, determined to work at its reformation. 
God paved the way for him, for, being elected Prior, he began the 
work by means of the new subjects he received into the order. This 
was the origin of the Congregation of St. Vanne and St. Hidulphe. 
Becoming too extended, it was divided, in 1618, into two separate con- 
gregations, of which that of St. Maurus was the second. The latter 
was thus named in honor of the disciple of St. Benedict, who had in- 
troduced the order into France. It soon spread throughout the king- 
dom, and it was confirmed by Pope Gregory XV., who granted to it 
the same privileges that had been accorded to the Congregation of 
St. Vanne. In 1633 it obtained the celebrated Abbey of St. Denis, at 
which time it possessed more than forty monasteries ; the following year 
it was united to the Congregation of Cluny, but this union was again 
dissolved in 1644. In the eighteenth century it was divided into six 
provinces, governed by a general. 

The Congregation of St. Maur applied itself in an especial manner to 
the education of the youthful members of the order. To this end each 
province had its novitiate, from which the newly-professed members 
were transferred to one of the monasteries where, during two years, 
they were trained in the practice of piety and of the ceremonies of the 
order. Five years more were devoted to the study of philosophy and 
theology, after which a year was spent exclusively in spiritual exercises 
as a preparation for the priesthood. 

The Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Maur did not entirely 
concentrate their activit}^ within their monasteries, but gave a share- 
of their works to the good of their neighbor by the preaching of the 
word of God, the administration of parishes, and the education of youth. 
They became celebrated for their learning and writings. They edited 
a number of manuscripts which thus far had lain hidden in libraries, 
besides several new editions of the works of the Fathers. One of the 
most celebrated of their members, Dom Mabillon, who died in 1707^ 



04 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



edited thirty volumes on various subjects. He is the author of the 
Lives of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict and of the Annals of 
the same order. This work was continued by Dom Ruinart. 

Unfortunately for the Congregation of St. Maur, it also had its period 
of decadence of religious fervor. The Bull Unigenitus, issued against 
the errors of Jansenius, was opposed by many members of the con- 
gregation, and although the superiors remained submitted to the au- 
thority of the Pope, Jansenism played havoc in the order, and a spirit 
of extreme relaxation was introduced. But the French Revolution 
was at hand. The Congregation of St. Maurus, together with other 
religious orders, was swept from France. Its last general was Dom 
Chevreux. The religious left their monasteries in 1792. In the be- 
ginning of this century an attempt was made to resuscitate the ancient 
Congregation of St. Maurus, but it proved a failure. 

There exists at present in France a new Congregation of Benedict- 
ines founded at Solesmes, which has also taken the name of St. Maurus, 
and which is rendering itself illustrious by its intellectual activity. 

VI. 

BENEDICTINES IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 

The Benedictines, as well those of the Order of Cluny, as of other 
monasteries, had been suppressed in England by Henry the VIII. in 
1536. They were again restored at the accession of Queen Mary, but 
Elizabeth having succeeded her, the order was once more suppressed. 
At the end of the sixteenth century the ancient English Benedictine 
Congregation was again revived on the continent of Europe, and it con- 
tinued to send its missionaries into England. The monks of this con- 
gregation observe the rule of St. Benedict with certain dispensations 
granted to them by the Holy See. 

We may here make a passing mention of the Scotch Benedictines 
who established various houses in Germany, and differed from their 
brethren in their rites and in the color of their habit, which was white. 
At present, however, they wear black, like the other members of the. 
Order of St. Benedict. 

In Ireland there existed a few Benedictine monasteries, but the or- 
der does not appear to have taken deep root on that island, so re- 
nowned on account of its monastic spirit. There was a monastery at 
Ross, which is supposed to have been of the Benedictine rule, and 
to have been subject to the abbey of Wurzburgh, in the Province of 
Metz in Germany. A priory of the same order was founded, in 1185, 
' at Waterford, by John, Earl of Morton. It was very wealthy, and it pos- 
sessed, as a dependency, St. John's House of Benedictines at Youghal, 



THE BENEDICTINES. 



95 



founded about the year 1360. Another Benedictine monastery was 
established before the year 1210, by John de Courcy, at Black Abbey, 
two miles north of Ballyhalbert, in the county of Down. It was sub- 
ject to the Abbey of St. Mary, at Lonly in Normandy. The same noble- 
man replaced the Canons in an abbey at Downpatrick by Benedictine 
monks, from the Abbey of St. Werburgh, in Chester, in the year 1 1 S3. 
In 1380, Parliament decreed that no Irishman should be professed 
in that monastery. Its superior had the seat of a baron in Parliament. 
It existed until the time of the Suppression. At a much earlier period, 
about the year 948, a Benedictine abbey had been founded at Dublin, 
most probably by the Danes, shortly after their conversion to Christi- 
anity. In 1 1 39, it passed into the hands of the Cistercians. It bore 
the title of Abbey of the Virgin Mary. 

VII. 

OTHER CONGREGATIONS. 

One of the most venerable of the Benedictine congregations is that 
of Monte Casino. It was on that hallowed spot that St. Benedict es- 
tablished his great monastery, whence the order spread over the world. 
It was destroyed by the Lombards in 500, but again rebuilt in 720. 
This celebrated abbey shared in all the vicissitudes of ecclesiastical 
history, and, even in our own days, it has its part of the sufferings which 
the Church endures. It was within its hallowed walls that the great 
St. Thomas Aquinas received his early education in the thirteenth cen- 
tury. The present Casinese congregation first bore the name of 
Congregration of Saint Justina, from an abbey of that name at Padua, 
belonging to the Congregation of Cluny. The latter order, with other 
Benedictines, had fallen into great relaxation in Italy, but a reforma- 
tion began at the said monastery about the year 1408, which culmin- 
ated in the establishment of the Congregation of Saint Justina. In the 
year 1504 the monastery of Monte Casino, having been united to that 
congregation, the name was changed by order of Pope Julius II. 
The Congregation of Monte Casino exists to the present day, and it 
is now sub-divided into nine congregations. 

In the beginning of the fifteenth century a reformation of the Ben- 
edictine order was begun at the abbey of Molck in Austria, which gave 
rise to a congregation, called of Molck, established in 1625. Other 
congregations were in course of time established in Germany, such 
as those of Suabia, Saltzbourg, Bavaria, and Switzerland. There ex- 
ists in France a branch of the Congregation of Monte Casino, founded 
in this century, at Pierre qui Vire by the abbe Muard. These relig- 



96 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ious lead a very austere life, and combine contemplation with mission- 
ary labors. They have a foundation in the United States in Oklahoma 
Territory. The founder of this congregation, Marie Jean Baptiste 
Muard, was born on April 24th, 1809. After having been successively 
parish priest of Jouxda-Ville and St. Martin d'Avallon, he founded 
the Monastery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate 
Heart of Mary at Pierre qui Vire in 1850, under the rule of St. Ben- 
edict. In his address to his brethren he gives the reason why that 
rule was chosen in preference to any other. We quote his words : 
u I felt a predilection for an ancient rule, because those rules have an 
odor of sanctity not to be found to the same extent in the more recent 
ones and because they have the sanction of time and experience, and, 
lastly, because in these times there is a tendency to return to the an- 
cient monastic usages. 

" Now among the most ancient rules, that of St. Benedict possesses 
all the desired conditions. It appears as the most perfect daughter of 
the primitive Oriental rules, as the mother of all those of the West, as 
the sacred code which has regulated the monastic world for more 
than fourteen hundred years, as the -most venerable of all on account 
of the profound wisdom and eminent sanctity shining forth from its 
every page, the perfection of the religious life it establishes, its divine- 
ly-ordered entirety, marvellous order, and its admirable details." To 
this rule Father Muard added various constitutions which he had 
gathered from the most approved sources. The original rule of fast- 
ing was modified, while that of abstinence was rendered more austere. 
He decreed that not only the individual members, but the society it- 
self should be poor, forbidding it to possess any fund, or even land. 

After the death of Father Muard, the austerity of some of the con- 
stitutions was modified by Pius IX., and by a decree of January 14th, 
1859, the monastery of Pierre qui Vire was canonically erected and 
affiliated to the Benedictine congregation of Subiaco. The points 
of the constitutions which had been modified were these : The re- 
ligious were allowed to own the soil on which their monastery w T as - 
built, and further to use all kinds of food permitted by the original 
rule of St Benedict. 

The Society of Pierre qui Vire has founded several monasteries in: 
France, one in Spain, another in Ireland, near Dublin, and one im 
Oklahoma Territory in America. 1 

The other monks of the Order of St. Benedict date the commence- 
ment of their history in this country from the year 1846, when monks 

1 The Life of Rev. Mary John Baptist Muard, by the Abbe Buries, translated by Rt>. 
Rev. Isidore Robot, O.S.B. 



THE BENEDICTINES. 



07 



from the abbey of Wetten, in Bavaria, established a foundation in 
Pennsylvania. In the beginning of this century, all the Benedictine 
monasteries in Bavaria were suppressed, with the exception of that of 
St. James of the Scotis at Ratisbon, and of the Benedictine nuns at 
Eichstadt. In 1827, thanks to the influence of King Louis, the abbey 
of St. Michael's at Wetten, and several other monasteries were restored. 
When it was proposed to found a seminary for the German missions 
in America, the Benedictines warmly entered into the project, and 
Father Boniface Wimmer, having offered to begin the work, was sent 
out by the Society of the Missions at Munich. The first Benedictine 
monastery in the United States was founded at Latrobe, Pa., and ded- 
icated to St. Vincent. By brief of July 29, 1855, it was raised to the 
dignity of abbey, according to the statutes of the Congregation of 
Bavaria, with Father Boniface Wimmer as first Mitred Abbot. It 
is at present the head of the American Cassinese congregation. A 
very flourishing college is attached to St. Vincent's Abbey. 1 Abbot 
Wimmer was afterwards appointed Arch-abbot. He died at Latrobe, 
Pa., December 8th, 1887, The congregation of which he was Presi- 
dent has spread over the United States, and besides the abbeys of St. 
Vincent's, Latrobe, Pa.; Atchison, Kansas ; Newark, New Jersey ; St. 
John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, and Mary Help Abbey at Bel- 
mont, North Carolina, it possesses priories and stations in the dioceses 
of Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Oregon City, St. 
Paul, Covington, Davenport, Denver, Erie, Little Rock, Manchester, 
Mobile, Savannah, and St. Augustine. 

St. Meinrad's Abbey in the diocese of Vincennes, Indiana, is a filia- 
tion of the celebrated Abbey of Our Lady at Einseideln, Switzerland, 
and it belongs to the Swiss congregation. 

After the Society of Jesus, the Benedictine order is the most nu- 
merous religious body in the United States. Though ages have passed 
over its head, it seems now in a period of rejuvenescence, and the vener- 
able institution of St. Benedict is once more animated with youth- 
ful vigor. 

In 1853 there was established at St.. Marystown, in the diocese of 
Erie, a convent of Benedictine nuns from the abbey of St. Walburga 
at Eichstadt, in Bavaria, which dates as far back as the year 1022. At 
present Sisters of this order exist in many places in this country. 
They devote themselves to the education of girls, and direct parish 
schools and female academies." 

v The Catholic Church in the United States— De Courcy — Shea. 
a Cath. Church in the U. S.— De Courcy.— Shea. 



BENEDICTINE SAINTS AND ABBEYS. 



ST. PLACIDUS. — ST. MAURUS. — ST. GREGORY.— ST. BENEDICT OF ANIANE. 
— MONTE CASINO. 

THE first son of St. Benedict who established a colony of monks 
of his order, outside of Monte Casino, was St. Placidus. He had 
lived under the care of the holy abbot from the age of seven, and had 
been taken by him to Monte Casino in 528. His father, the patrician 
Tertullian, having bestowed upon St. Benedict certain estates which 
he possessed in Sicily, Placidus was sent thither and appointed abbot 
of a monastery near Messina. This took place probably in the year 541, 
the saint being then about twenty-six- years of age. He studied to in- 
stil into the heart of his brethren the spirit of his holy founder, which 
was one of recollection, solitude, and prayer. 

St. Placidus had lived only a few years in Sicily, when a fleet of 
pirates landing on the island, he, together with his companions, was 
put to death out of hatred of Christianity, and their monastery was 
burnt. This happened about the year 546. 

In the year 522 Equitius, a nobleman, placed his twelve-year-old 
son, Maurus, under the care of St. Benedict. The monastic virtues of 
this youth were so great that when he was grownup, the holy founder 
made him his coadjutor in the government of the monastery of Subiaco, 
and soon after called him to Monte Casino. In 543 St. Maurus was 
sent to France, where, by the liberality of King Theodebert, he found- 
ed the abbey of Glanfeuil. In 501 he resigned the government of this 
abbey to spend his time in the contemplation of heavenly things. 
He died on January 15th, 584. St. Maurus had received the order of 
deacon. 

Forty-four years before the death of St. Maurus, and while that 
holy abbot still lived in Italy, before he had transplanted his order to 
France, there was born at Rome, in 540, a child destined to adorn the 
See of Peter as one of its most illustrious Pontiffs, and who probably 
wore the Benedictine habit. St. Gregory the Great, the scion of a noble 
and wealthy family, came into the world about three years before the 
death of the holy patriarch of Monte Casino. In his youth he studied 

98 



BENEDICTINE SAINTS AND ABBE VS. 



09 



grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, civil law, and the canons of the Church, 
in which branches of knowledge he became most proficient. In 574, 
at the age of thirty-four, the emperor Justin the Younger appointed 
him governor of Rome. However, he was not blinded by the false 
splendor of earthly dignity, for from his youth he had been enamored 
of heavenly things. After the death of his father, who had embraced 
the ecclesiastical state, the saint built and endowed six monasteries in 
Sicily out of the estates which he possessed in that island, and he found- 
ed another in his own house in Rome. In 575, St Gregory, at the age 
of thirty-five, took the monastic habit in that monastery. It was while 
he lived here as a monk that he conceived the idea of converting the 
English nation, a project he afterwards executed when he had been 
promoted to the See of Peter. He had intended going thither himself, 
and had started on his journey when the objections raised by the 
Roman people caused the Pope to recall him. Not long after he was 
made one of the seven deacons of the Church at Rome. Pelagius IL 
sent him to Constantinople as Nuncio of the Holy See, a dignity which 
at that epoch bore the title of Apocrisiarius. In 584 he was recalled 
to Rome. St. Gregory governed his monastery until 590, when in 
spite of his opposition, he was chosen Bishop of Rome. The life of St. 
Gregory, after his exaltation to the papacy, has merited for him the 
title of Great. He died on March 12th, 604. It is controverted 
among the learned whether he had professed the rule of St. Benedict, 
or another. Dom Mabillon maintains that he was a Benedictine, 
while Baronius inclines to the contrary opinion. The same difference 
of opinion exists concerning St. Augustine and his companions, who 
were sent by St. Gregory to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons, and who 
had been members of his monastery at Rome. Helyot takes it for 
granted that St. Augustine and his monks were members of the Order 
of St. Benedict. 

Among the many saints of this order who lived in the seventh and 
eighth centuries, St. Willibrord, archbishop of Utrecht, apostle of the 
Frisians, and St. Boniface, archbishop of Mayence, and apostle of Ger- 
many, stand prominent. 

One of the most illustrious of Benedictine saints was St. Benedict of 
Aniane. He was the son of Aigulf, count of Languedoc. About the 
year 774 he became a monk in the abbey of St. Seine, five leagues 
from Dijon, and began to lead a life of the greatest austerity, practising 
not only the rule of St. Benedict to the letter, but also the severest 
observances prescribed by those of St. Pachomius and St. Basil. The 
monastery in which he lived had already fallen into relaxation, and the 
monks being- averse to a reformation, St. Benedict left it and returned 



100 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



to Languedoc, where for some years. he lived in a small hermitage. A 
number of disciples joining him, he built a monastery in the neighbor- 
hood. 

The Council held under Charlemagne in 813, having decreed that the 
monks should all follow the rule of St. Benedict, Louis the Debonnaire 
in the following year committed the inspection of all the abbeys in 
his kingdom to St. Benedict; he also built for him the monastery at 
Indenear Aix-la-Chapelle, in a place now called Corneli Munster, where 
his body still reposes, though in an unknown grave. St. Benedict 
succeeded in reforming the monasteries in the kingdom. His death 
-occurred on February nth, 821. 

It is said that from the beginning of the order to the commencement 
of the fourteenth century, the institute of St. Benedict had possessed 
more than forty thousand saints and beatified persons, of whom five 
thousand five hundred had been religious of Monte Casino. 

This abbey was destroyed by the Lombards in 580, and the abbot, 
.also a St. Benedict, escaped to Rome with all his monks, and built a 
monastery near the Lateran church. In the pontificate of Gregory IL, 
about the year 720, they returned to Monte Casino. The abbey was 
again ruined by the Saracens in 884, by the Normans in 1046, and by 
the Emperor Frederic II., in 1239, but it was as often rebuilt. Toward 
the close of the last century, the order possessed thirty -seven thousand 
houses. Before the Reformation, all the cathedral priories of England, 
except Carlisle, were saved by Benedictine monks, while many of the 
.abbots were barons and holding seats in Parliament. 



\ 



GLIMPSES OF BENEDICTINE ABBEYS. 



MONTSERRAT. — MONTE CASINO. — WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

WHILE travelling from Saragossa to Barcelona we passed very 
near the famous mountain of Montserrat. Seen in the distance, it 
appears like one solid rock rising abruptly out of the land. Gradual- 
ly gaining in proportions, it overwhelms one with its gigantic mass and 
its solemn aspect. As we approached the town of Manresa we obtained 
a magnificent, view of this most interesting and world-renowned 
mountain. Upon it is venerated the celebrated image of the Blessed 
Virgin of Montserrat. It is said that the devotion to this image ex- 
isted as early as the eighth century, but that it ceased during the in- 
cursions of the Moors in Catalonia, and that the image remained con- 
cealed until the end of the ninth century. At first a hermitage was 
built on the mountain, but it was soon after succeeded by a monastery 
of nuns who remained there until 966, when the monastery was given 
to the Benedictine monks. In 140 1 it was erected into an abbey by 
the anti-pope, Benedict XIII., who separated it from the jurisdiction 
of the monastery of Our Lady of Ripoli, to which it had thus far been 
subject. All this was confirmed by Martin V. in 1430. A few years 
later, in 1493, the abbey of Montserrat was united to the Congregation 
of Valladolid, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. 

The Congregation of Valladolid took its rise from the Benedictine 
abbey of that city, called the Royal. Its religious had never fallen into 
relaxation, but they had always preserved the spirit of their holy 
founder in spite of the wealth which was theirs. They even added 
austerities which were not prescribed by the rule, and bound them- 
selves to observe perpetual inclosure. Other monasteries followed 
their example and became subject to their abbey. The first superi- 
ors of this congregation bore only the title of prior, but Pope Alex- 
ander VI. conferred upon them that of abbot. The abbot of Vallado- 
lid was the general of the congregation. 

The first abbot of Montserrat after the reform was Dom Garcias de 
Cisneros. It was to this celebrated abbey that St. Ignatius de Loyola 
repaired after his conversion, and before taking up his abode in the 

101 



102 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



grotto of the neighboring town of Manresa. Helyot writes that in his 
time there were generally seventy choir religious and ninety oblate 
brothers in this abbey. Besides these, eighteen or twenty hermits 
lived upon the mountain, and came at stated times to the abbe)'. Some 
of these hermits took the habit wit h the intention of remaining hermits 
all their life. They made the vow of stability like the rest of the relig- 
ious, and also promised never to leave the mountain, and they re- 
nounced the right to elect and be elected. They were not, however, 
sent off at once to the hermitage, but were obliged to spend seven 
years in the monastery, and only permitted to begin their solitary life, 
if the abbot, and the ancients of the community deemed them fit for 
it. The other class of hermits consisted of those who originally pro- 
fessed the Cenobitical life, but who, desirous of greater perfection, as- 
pired to become Anchorites. This favor was accorded to them only 
after a long trial. All the hermits were subject to the abbot of the 
monastery. The Congregation of Valladolid in Spain was suppressed 
during the government of the queen-regent, Maria Christina, widow 
of Ferdinand VII. A few monks were nevertheless permitted to re- 
main at Montserrat, and, at present,- their number is about nineteen. 
The hermitages are at present crumbling into ruins and fast disappear- 
ing. 

Far away from Montserrat, in sunny Italy, the traveller on the rail- 
road between Rome and Naples, who has loved to delve in the history 
of mediaeval times, will be interrupted in his reveries by the cry of 
Casino. Casino, yes, this is the station at the foot of a mountain on 
which stands the most celebrated abbey of the Middle Ages. Look 
up. There towers abo* 7 e your head the celebrated Monte Casino, its 
summit crowned by the vast pile of monastic buildings. This is the 
cradle of the Benedictine order. The monastery is clearly visible 
from the train. We might gaze upon it, perched as it was upon the 
summit of the mountain, but our limited time did not permit us to as- 
cend the heights and visit the abbey. We were more fortunate in the 
isle of Albion, once so celebrated for its vast Benedictine abbeys. 
For the second time in our life, but now more at our leisure, we were 
permitted to walk through Westminster Abbey, to-day, alas! in the 
hands of those who know not St. Benedict and his rule. As we 
strolled through its venerable cloisters, which reminded us so much 
of those of the cathedral of Burgos, we could not help dwelling on the 
ages of faith, on the days when England was still Catholic. We 
seemed to behold the dark figures of the monks as they walked through 
those same cloisters, before the Reformation had swept over the land. 
The monastic buildings around the abbey church, now converted into 




WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



GLIMPSES OF BENEDICTINE ABBEYS. 



103 



secular uses, reminded us of some of the brightest and some of the 
darkest pages in England's history. 

The abbey of Westminster was probably founded by the Saxon 
king Sebert in the sixth century, though the original plan, it appears, 
included only what is now the east angle. It was not long before the 
work done by Sebert was destroyed bv the Danes, and it remained a 
ruin until the reign of St. Edward the Confessor, when a magnificent 
structure was erected in its place. The royal founder lies buried in 
the abbey church. He died in 1065, and he was canonized by Pope 
Alexander III. in 1 163. A bull was issued to the abbot Laurence and to 
the monastery of Westminster, enjoining " that his body be honored here 
on earth, as his soul is glorified in heaven." Henry II., after the can- 
onization, built a shrine to his honor, but in 1269 Henry III. erected 
a more costly one, that which is now seen in the chapel of St. Edward, 
to which the remains were then transferred. According to a record 
in the tower, " the jewels belonging to the body and shrine of St. 
Edward amounted to the value of £2,557, 4 s - 8d." To-day the shrine 
is stripped of all its wealth, and nothing remains save the tomb. To the 
south of the shrine lies buried Edith, the wife of St. Edward, and 
daughter of Goodwyn, Earl of Kent. Here, also, are the resting 
places of Henry the Third, Edward L, and his queen, Eleanor of Cas- 
tile, Henry the Fifth, Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward III., and 
the king, her husband ; Margaret Woodville, infant daughter of 
Edward IV.; Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; Richard IT. 
and his queen, Anne, daughter of Charles IV., and John of Waltham, 
twenty-sixth bishop of Salisbury. In this chapel are also preserved 
the coronation chairs, in the most ancient one of which all the reigning 
sovereigns of England have been crowned since the days of Edward, 
first of that name after the Norman conquest. 

Henry III., whose body lies in St. Edward's chapel, pulled down 
the ancient abbey, which he rebuilt on an enlarged plan, adding a chapel 
dedicated to the Dlessed Virgin. Henry VII. erected the present 
magnificent chapel situated behind the altar, and known by his name. 
He designed it to be a burial place for himself and his successors. 
Within it the founder himself and his queen, Elizabeth of the house 
of York, lie buried. Around their tomb are those of Villiers and 
Sheffield, Dukes of Buckingham; Lodowick Stuart, Duke of Richmond, 
and the Duke of Montpensier. Here, too, is the royal vault of George 
II. The modern tomb of Dean Stanley and his wife is also in this chap- 
el. In the south aisle lie Lady Mary Douglas, Margaret, Countess 
of Richmond, Lady Walpole, and General Monck, Duke of Albemarle. 
Here too is the beautiful tomb of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



It was erected by her son, James I., soon after his accession to the 
throne of England. Her remains had first been interred in Peter- 
borough Cathedral, but her son had them privately removed to West- 
minster Abbey in October, 1612. In this aisle is also the old royal 
vault containing the remains of Charles II., King William III., Prince 
George of Denmark, and Queen Anne. 

In the north aisle are buried Queen Elizabeth and her sister Queen 
Mary; Edward V., Mary and Sophia, daughters of James I., the Marquis 
of Halifax, and the Earl of Halifax. 

The Benedictine monks remained in possession of the abbey of West- 
minster until the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII. 
Edward VI., his son, under whom England became Protestant, lies bur- 
ied in the chapel of Henry VII. At the restoration of the Catholic 
religion under his sister, Queen Mary, whose mortal remains lie with 
those of Elizabeth, the abbey was given back to the Benedictine monks, 
and John Fekenan, who had been imprisoned in the tower, was appointed 
abbot. Queen Elizabeth, having succeeded Mary, endeavored to draw 
the abbot of Westminster to her plans of introducing Protestantism into 
England, and even offered him the archbishopric of Canterbury. Par- 
liament being assembled, Dom John assisted as abbot of Westminster, 
and vigorously opposed the intentions of the queen, of whom he drew 
upon himself the indignation. He was sent back to the tower, w T hence 
he was transported to different places. He died in captivity in 1585. 
After his death only one monk of the ancient English Benedictine con- 
gregation remained, namely, Dom Sigbert Buckley, and he too was in 
prison. However, the Benedictines did not relinquish their hold on 
England. English members of the congregations of Valladolid and 
Monte Casino were sent into England, where they worked under the 
obedience of their respective superiors. In 1607, Dom Buckley, a pro- 
fessed religious of the abbey of Westminster, and as we have seen, the 
only surviving member of the old Benedictine congregation of 
England, aggregated to it several members of the Casinese congrega- 
tion, with the approbation of the general chapter of the latter, and thus 
the English Benedictine congregation may be said to have never be- 
come altogether extinct. 



BENEDICTINE NUNS. 



EARLY NUNS OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT. — OUR LADY OF CALVARY. — 
FONTEVRAULT. — BENEDICTINE NUNS OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION. 

THE date of the first establishment of monasteries of women follow- 
ing- the Benedictine Rule, is uncertain, and authors who have 
written on this subject differ in their opinions, some asserting that nuns 
of the Order of St. Benedict existed during the lifetime of the holy 
founder, while others maintain that thev were established only after 
his death. 

In the year 544, St. Radegund, wife of Childebert I., king of France, 
built the Monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, for women. The 
rule of St. Csesarius was at first observed in this monasterv, but it was 
superseded by that of St. Benedict. Gradually the various monaster- 
ies in France began to observe the rule of the great Patriarch of the 
monks of the West. The Benedictine nuns, like the monks, passed 
through various periods of relaxation and reformation. One of these 
reformations took place in the ancient abbey of Notre Dame of St. 
Paul, near Beauvais, by the untiring efforts of the abbess, Madeleine 
d'Esconbleau de Sourdis. She reestablished the cloister, labor in 
common, Matins after midnight, and the Benedictine habit. This same 
abbess also became instrumental in the reformation of several other 
monasteries. She died in 1665, aged 85 years. 

Another reformation was that of Our Lady of Calvary in the seven- 
teenth century, founded at Poitiers by Father Joseph le Clerc du Trem- 
blay, a Capuchin Friar, and according to several authorities, by Antoi- 
nette d'Orleans. The nuns of this order observed the rule of St. Bene- 
dict with great rigor. It was confirmed by Pope Gregory XV., and it 
may, in a certain sense, be considered a branch of the Cistercian order, 
as Antoinette d'Orleans belonged to the Feuillantes, who followed the 
Rule of Citeaux. The habit of these nuns is brown, with a white scap- 
ular. In choir they wear a black mantle. They are bare-footed from 
the first of May until the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in 
September. 

One of the most singular orders in the Church was that of Fontevrault. 
It was founded about the year 1100, by Blessed Robert d'Arbrissel. 
It may be called a double order, as it consisted of both sexes, who lived 

105 



106 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



in separate monasteries. That which appears most striking is the fact 
that the superior of the order was a woman, the abbess of the nuns. 
This rule was made by the founder to honor the Blessed Virgin, to 
whom Christ, dying on the cross, had recommended His beloved dis- 
ciple, St. John. The order was confirmed by the Holy See in J 113. 
The first superior was Herlande de Champagne, and the first abbess 
Petronilla de Craon Chenille, widow of the baron of that name. The 
order was placed under the rule of St. Benedict. 

The constitutions required perpetual abstinence from flesh-meat. 
The nuns were obliged to observe continual silence, and to go to and 
from the church together. Their face was alwa}\s covered with a veil, 
and their habit was made of coarse material. No religious was allowed 
to leave the cloister without the permission of the abbess. 

The monks led a life of community, and recited the Office in common. 
The reception of members into the order belonged to the abbess. 

There was at one time at Fontevrault as many as four or five thou- 
sand nuns. The order acquired a great reputation, spread throughout 
France, and it was introduced into Spain and England. 

In the course of time, it lost its first fervor, and became greatly re- 
laxed, but several of the abbesses exerted themselves to their utmost 
ability to introduce a reform which finally succeeded, and which was 
confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV. 

The nuns of Fontevrault were mostly noble ladies, and to them was 
entrusted the education of the royal princesses. The order of Fonte- 
vrault was suppressed during the French Revolution, but in 1803 the 
female branch was re-established in France for the purpose of devoting 
itself to the education of youth. 

An order in which the Rule' of St. Benedict is rigidly observed is 
that of the Benedictine Nuns of the Perpetual Adoration. It was 
founded by Mother Mechtildis of the Blessed Sacrament, born in 1614. 
Her name in the world was Catherine de Barrd. Her childhood hav- 
ing been spent in great piety, in her seventeenth year she entered the 
Order of the Annonciadesat Bruyeres, and she was there professed, hav- 
ing taken the name of Sister St. John the Evangelist. At the age of 20 
or 21 she became superior of her monastery. In 1635 the wars that 
were then raging in Lorraine dispersed her community, and, for three 
years, she remained among seculars, not being able to find a monastery 
where she mi^ht abide. 

In 1639, having deliberately considered the matter before Gocl, she 
left her order and entered that of the Benedictines at Rambervilliers, 
where the Rule was strictly observed, taking the name of Mechtildis 
of the Blessed Sacrament. She there made her profession in 1640. 



BENEDICTINE NUNS OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION 



BENEDICTINE NUNS. 



107 



The troubled times and extreme desolation which prevailed in Lorraine 
again forced her to leave her monastery, together with other religious, 
and she was charitably received at the abbey of Montmartre at Paris. 
In 1643 her community was again assembled at Saint Maur. Some 
time after she became superior, first of the monastery of Caen, and 
later of that of Rambervilliers. Having returned to Paris, she made 
the acquaintance of several noble ladies, by the aid of whom she 
succeeded in establishing a monastery at St. Germain-des-Pres, where 
she introduced the devotion of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed 
Sacrament, and laid the foundation of her order, in which the religious 
bind themselves by vow to the practice of 1 his devotion. The sisters 
take turns in the performance of this act of piety. Another practice of 
the order is that of perpetual reparation. Ever)- morning, before 
the conventual Mass, one of the sisters places herself in the middle 
of the choir with a torch in her hand and a rope around her neck, 
and remains thus during the Holy Sacrifice to repair the injuries 
done to the Blessed Sacrament. The one whose turn it is to make 
reparation also goes to the refectory with the rope around her neck 
and the torch in her hand, and kneeling down before her sisters, 
says: " Praised and adored be forever the Most Holy Sacrament of the 
Altar. My dear sisters, remember that we are consecrated to God as 
victims to repair the outrages and profanations constantly committed 
against the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. I humbly beg the 
assistance of your prayers in order to acquit myself worthily of this 
duty." She then spends the day in retreat until Vespers. Every 
morning after Mass the sisters lie prostrate, and one of them pronoun- 
ces an act of adoration. Every hour of the day and night five strokes 
of the bell are given as a reminder of the benefit conferred on us by 
the Holy Eucharist. Their ordinary salutation to one another consists 
of the words: " Praised forever be the Most Holy Sacrament of the 
Altar." A figure of the Blessed Sacrament, made of gilt copper, is 
worn by each sister on her scapular or on the habit she wears in the 
choir. The Blessed Sacrament is always exposed on Thursdays, and 
the sisters remain on that day, as much as possible, in prayer. 

Mother Mechtildis established the Perpetual Adoration in several 
other monasteries. In 1687 the order was introduced into Poland. 
The foundress, after a life of great virtue and eminent sanctity, died 
on April 6th, 1698, at the age of 83. 

The constitutions of the order were confirmed in 1676 by Pope In- 
nocent XL, having previously in 1668 been approved by the Cardinal 
de Vendome, Papal Legate in France. They were again confirmed in 
1705 by Pope Clement XL 



MONKS OF ST. COLUMBANUS AND ST. COLUMBA. 



MONASTERY OF LUXEUIL. — ST. COLUMBANUS IN LOMBARD Y. — HIS RULE. — 
IT IS SUPERSEDED BY THAT OF ST. BENEDICT.— ST. COLUMBKILLE. — 
THE MONASTERY OF IONA. 

ERE we proceed in the history of the various branches of the great 
Benedictine family, we deem it necessary to pause awhile at the 
mention of a name famous in the annals of monasticism, that of the 
Irishman, Columbanus. " A monk and monastic legislator like St. 
Benedict," saysMontalembert, " he atone moment threatened to eclipse 
and replace the Benedictine institution in the Catholic world." 1 

Ireland had been converted to Christianity without the shedding of 
blood. Its great apostle, Patrick, and its virgin-saint, Bridget, had 
enriched the island they loved so well with the monastic institutions 
which flourished in Erin with almost unparalleled vitality. In his 
own lifetime, St. Patrick could no longer number the sons and 
daughters of chieftains who had embraced cloistral life through his 
instrumentality. 

Columbanus, born in the Province of Leinster in the same year that 
St. Benedict died, had entered the monastery of Bangor. There he 
seemed to find no rest, and, in spite of the entreaties of the abbot who at- 
tempted to retain him, left Bangor, with twelve other monks, crossed 
Great Britain, and landed in Gaul. Pie was then thirty years .of age. 
He had left his native Leinster to escape from the seductions of the 
flesh, and it seemed to him as though he had heard the voice of God 
commanding him to expatriate himself entirely and seek a foreign shore. 

Dtiringseveralyears hetravelled through Gaul, preachingthegospel, 
and giving an example of the practice of virtue. At the invitation of 
Gontran, king of Burgundy, he settled at Annegray, an ancient Roman 
castle. Here with his companions he led a most austere life of solitude, 
until, at the end of some years, the increasing number of his disciples 
obliged him to seek another residence. He found this at Luxeuil, 
which had also been the site of a strong castle. This place he obtained 
from Gontran, and established on it his monastery which was destined 
to become so famous. A multitude of disciples flocked around him, so 
that in a short time he counted them by hundreds. 

1 Monks of the West— Book VII. 

108 



MONKS OF ST COL UMBANUS AND ST. COL UMBA. 109 



At the monastery of Luxeuil the voices of the monks arose night 
and day in prayer and praise of the Almighty. But prayer was not 
their only occupation, for all were bound to manual labor, which Col- 
urabanus himself directed. An article of his rule ordained his monks 
to go to rest so fatigued that they should fall asleep on the way, and 
to get up before they had slept sufficiently. 

St. Columbanus, in spite of his sanctity, possessed certain traits of 
character which became for him a source of great annoyance. Though 
living in Gaul, he would not abandon the singularity of his costume 
and tonsure, which were peculiarly Irish. Neither would he celebrate 
Easter with the rest of the Church, but persisted, according to the 
Irish custom which then prevailed, in celebrating it on the fourteenth 
day of the moon, when that day happened to be a Sunday, instead 
of on the Sunday after the fourteenth day. He even, more than once, 
attempted to bring the Holy See over to his side. He was a man of 
intense zeal, which rendered him bold and fearless, even in opposing 
monarchs, and having forbidden women to enter within the precincts 
of his monastery, he made no exception even in favor of the Queen 
Brunehault, who seriously resented it. This, with other grievances, 
caused her and her grandson, Thierry, king of Burgundy, to excite a 
persecution against, the saint, whom they conducted to Besancon, 
though he returned to Luxeuil in spite of them. He was finally 
forced to leave his monastery, which he had governed for twenty 
years, and, together with his brethren of Irish or Britannic origin, 
sent into exile. From this event of the life of St. Columbanus, we 
see that the persecution of religious on the soil of France does not 
exclusively belong to a modern period. 

Having left Gaul, Columbanus labored for a while among the Sue- 
ves and Alemans, then crossed the Alps, and arrived in Lombardy. 
Agilulf, king of the Lombards, bestowed upon him the territory of 
Bobbio, situated between Genoa and Milan. Here he founded his 
last monastery, and devoted himself to prayer and study, disdaining 
not to practise poetry and write in verse to his friends. St. Colum- 
banus died November 21st, 615. 

The rule of this saint was more severe than that of St. Benedict, 
though agreeing with it in its essential features. It required an ab- 
'Solute obedience on the part of the monks. This obedience appears 
to have been a marked characteristic of Irish monasticism, in which 
it also seems that centralization of government was prominent, for 
St. Columbanus tells us that in Ireland as many as a thousand abbots 
recognized the authority of a sole superior. The rule exacted per- 
petual silence, except for the sake of necessity or utility. The food of 



110 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the monks consisted only of pulse, meal moistened with water, and 
a small loaf for each one. This meal was not taken before evening. 
Extreme penalties were imposed for the least infraction of monastic 
discipline. A monk, who should have spoken without the presence 
of a third person to a woman, was to receive two hundred blows or 
fast two clays on bread and water. He who on a journey, should have 
slept under the same roof with a woman, had to fast three days on 
bread and water. Severity seems to have been characteristic of this 
entire rule, in spite ot which it was practised by an arm}- of religious. It 
was, however, not destined to last, but to be superseded by the meeker 
rule of St. Benedict. The spirit of St. Columbanus was like unto 
those tropical showers which descend like a torrent, but soon cease, 
while that of St. Benedict resembled more the rain that falls gently, 
but produces fruit more lasting. 

In the fifth century monasteries had begun to obtain from Rome 
the privilege of exemption from Episcopal authority. This was ac- 
corded to that of Lerins by the Council of Aries in 451, to that of Ag- 
aune by the Council of Chalons in 579, and Luxeuil obtained it from 
Pope John IV., though Mabillon says that this was only a confirma- 
tion of previous exemptions. Colonies of the monks of.Luxeuil spread 
far and wide, but half a century after the death of the founder of that 
monastery, the rule of St. Benedict had taken the place of that of St. 
Columbanus. At the Council of Autun, held in 670, the observance 
of the rule of St. Benedict is enjoined upon all religious. Montalem- 
berc sees two causes for this absolute triumph of the Benedictine rule 
over that of the Hibernian legislator. The first lies in the fact that 
it was approved and honored by the Papacy, and, in some sort, identi- 
fied with the authority of Rome itself ; the second, in its greater mod- 
eration. May we not find another cause in this, that the Benedictine 
order has always former! itself to the genius of the various nations in 
which it existed, and, like the Church, become all for all? 

St. Columbanus must not be confounded with St. Coiu mba or Co- 
lumbkille,that famous country man of his, who established themonastery 
of Iona. Born of the race of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who from 
379 to 405 was monarch of all Ireland, Columba is, at the same time, 
the most interesting and the most poetical character in the Irish his- 
tory of the sixth century. He came into the world on December 7th, 
521. Having for some time practised the monastic profession, he left 
his native country, a voluntary exile from Erin, in expiation of the 
great fault of his life, — the bloodshed caused by the wars he had ex- 
cited to avenge an injury which he thought had been inflicted upon 
him. He went forth to become the apostle of Caledonia and establish 



M ONES OF ST. COL TJMBA N US A ND ST. COL TJM BA . 



Ill 



his famous monastery. There is nothing more affecting- than the 
grief of the exiled monk as lie turns to the distant shores of the land 
he is never more to behold, and pours out the poetic inspirations of his 
afflicted soul. " What joy," he exclaims, " to fly upon the white 
crested sea, and to watch the waves break upon the Irish shore ! 
What joy to row the little bark, and land among the whitening foam 
upon the Irish shore! Ah! how my boat would fly if its prow were 
turned to my Irish oak grove ! But the noble sea now carries me only 
to Albyn, the land of ravens. My foot is in my little boat, but my sad 
heart ever bleeds. There is a gray eye which ever turns to Erin, but 
never in this life shall it see Erin, nor her sons, nor her daughters. 
From the high prow I look over the sea, and great tears are in my 
gray eye when I turn to Erin — to Erin, where the song of the birds is 
so sweet, and where the clerks sing like the birds; where the young 
are so gentle, and the old so wise ; where the great men are so noble 
to look at, and the women so fair to wed. Young traveller, carry my 
sorrows with thee ; carry them to Comgall of eternal life. Noble 
youth, take my prayer with thee, and my blessing ; one part for Ire- 
land — seven times may she be blessed ! and the other for Albyn. Carry 
my blessing across the sea — carry it to the West. My heart is bro- 
ken in my breast : if death comes to me suddenly, it will be because of 
the great love I bear to the Gael." 

The apostle of Caledonia was never to behold his native land again ; 
his boat was never to touch the shores of Erin. Death came to him, 
not suddenly, but after the preparation of a long life. He breathed 
his last in his retreat of Iona on June 9th, 597. The monastery he had 
founded survived him for a long time. 

It is probable that St. Columba left no special rule for the guidance 
of his monks, but that the monaster) 7 of Iona was founded on the 
commonly accepted observances of the religious state. According to 
Montalembert, an examination of the monastic peculiarities of his bi- 
ography reveals the fact of the existence of a vow taken by the monks 
after a probation more or less prolonged. The same author remarks 
that authorities unquestionable and unquestioned demonstrate the ex- 
istence of amicular confession, the invocation of saints, the celebration 
of the Mass, the real presence in the Eucharist, ecclesiastical celibacy, 
fasts and abstinence's, prayer for the dead, the sign of the Cross, and 
the assiduous stud) 7 of the Holy Scriptures. 

The monastic body of which Columba was the father, consisting 
not only of the monastery of Iona, but of many other communities, 
bore the name of the Family of Columb-Kill. It continued to live for 
centuries after the death of the saint, and the succession of abbots at 



112 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Iona remained perfectly regular until the period of the Danish inva- 
sions at the commencement ot the ninth century, when the abbots of 
that monastery began to occupy an inferior position and the headquar- 
ters of the Family of Columb-Kill were transferred lo one of the other 
foundations of the saint at Kells, in the centre of Ireland, where the 
Superior-General of the order resided for three centuries more. 

The influence of St. Columba on the Irish Church was enormous, and 
his spirit seemed to live in it for centuries after his death. Ireland 
was then regarded by all Christian Europe as the principal centre of 
knowledge and piety, and its Church was then, let it not be forgotten, 
entirely monastic. 



MONASTIC SAINTS OF IRELAND. 



ST. BRIDGET. — ST. FINIAN.— ST. BRENDAN. — ST. KENNY. — ST. COMGALL.-^ 
ST. MOCHUDA. 

The monastic institution was introduced into Ireland by St. 
Patrick, the apostle of that island, who founded a monastery at Armagh,, 
another called Domnach-Padraig, and a third, named Sabhal-Padraig. 
St. Bridget, who had been born in Ireland shortly after that island 
had received the light of faith, took the religious veil in her youth, and 
built herself a cell under a large oak, which gave to the place its name 
of Kildara, or cell of the oak. Several virgins joined her, and she es- 
tablished a religious community w T hich became the source of similar 
institutions in Ireland. The foundations that went out from Kildara 
acknowledged St. Bridget for their mother and foundress. She lived 
in the beginning of the sixth century. Toward the end of the same 
century died St. Ruadhan, a native of Leinster, who built the monas- 
tery of Lathraen, of which he became abbot. He was called one of 
the twelve apostles of Ireland. 

One of the most famous names in Irish ecclesiastical history, after 
St. Patrick, is that of St. Finian. He too was a native of Leinster, and 
he received his instructions in Christian virtue from the disciples of St. 
Patrick. He remained thirty years in Britain, and returned to Ireland 
about the year 520. He established several monasteries, and became 
bishop of Clonard. He died in 552. Among his disciples he counted 
the two Saints Brendan. The elder of these, the son of Findloga, 
founded, among other monasteries, that of Clu-ain-fearta. He wrote 
a monastic rule which w r as long famous in Ireland. His death oc- 
curred in 578. Another disciple of St. Finian was St. Nathy, the pa- 
tron of the diocese of Achonry. St. Kiaran, who had also been under 
the direction of St. Finian, founded a numerous monastery in the isle 
Inis-Avigean, and another called Cluan-Macnois in West Meath. St. 
Kiaran w r as also the author of a very austere monastic rule. He died 
in 549. In 599, another illustrious ornament of the monastic state in 
Ireland, St. Kenny, a disciple of St. Finian, died. He ranks among 
the most glorious saints of Ireland. He was the founder of the great 
monastery of Achadbho, which grew up into a town that was formerly 

113 



114 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the seat of the bishops of Ossory. The first bishop of Tuam, St. Jar- 
lath, was the founder of a monastery, and he counted among his disci- 
ples St. Brendan, abbot of Clonfert. St. Jarlath died about the year 540. 

One of the most illustrious founders of Irish monastic orders was the 
celebrated St. Comgall, abbot of Bangor. Born of noble parents in 
the north of Ulster, he was brought up under St. Fintan in the monas- 
tery of Cluain-Aidnech. He founded in 550 the abbey of Benchor, or 
Bangor, in the county of Down, which must not be confounded with 
one of the same name in Wales that was the most considerable monas- 
tery among the Britains. St. Fintan, abbot of Cluain-Aidnecli in Lein- 
ster, under whom St. Comgall had laid the foundations of his saintly 
life, was the author of a monastic rule noted for its severity. His 
monks, like the Trappists, lived only on vegetables, and tilled the ground 
with their own hands. This saint died in the sixth century. 

According to a probable opinion, the rule of St. Comgall was not 
Unlike that of St. Basil, if not identical with it. It also appears that 
the first Britishand Irish monks very muchimitated the rulesof those of 
the East. The language in which the rule of St. Comgall was written 
is said to be no longer intelligible. St, Comgall, it is stated, governed 
three thousand monks in Benchor and other houses. All these relig- 
ious were employed in manual labor. St. Columbanus, who established 
the monastery of Luxeuil in France, was a disciple of St. Comgall. 
Many abbots, bishops, and saints came out of this monastery, and all 
the holy men of that age sought the acquaintance and. friendship of St. 
Comgall. The saint died on May 10th, 601. 

St. Mochuda, or Carthag, a disciple of St. Comgall, and founder of the 
great monastery of Raithin in West Meath, and of one at Lismore, is 
also the author of a monastic rule. He died in 637. The most renowned 
of the disciples of St. Comgall, St. Lugil or Molua,is said to have founded 
one hundred monasteries. The principal one of these was situated in 
Leinster between Ossory and Lesia. It was called Cluain-Feasta, or 
solitude of wonders. St. Molua wrote a monastic rule which is said to 
have been highly commended by St. Gregory the Great. He died in 
622. 

St.Finian Lobhar, or the leper, founded the monasteries of Inis-Fal- 
er in Desmond, and Ard-Finan in the county of Tipperary, and 
died about the year 615. St. Keivin was the founder of the abbey of 
Glendeloch, and St. Colman Elo, of the monastery of Lancl-Elo. 

The number of saintly personages in Ireland at that period was so 
great that Marianus Scotus writes in 674, "that Ireland was filled 
with saints or holy men." Of St. Columbkille, the founder of Iona, 
we have already spoken. 



INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY MONKS. 



CONVERSION OF NATIONS. — SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES. — AGRICULTURE. 

A T the downfall of the Roman Empire in the West, Europe found 



JT\ itself in a deplorable condition. The Franks in Gaul, the Goths, 
Alemanni, Saxons, and Frisians in German)', the Anglo-Saxons in 
England, the Celts in Scotland and Ireland, the Scandinavians in the 
North, and the Danes in the East, were all pagans, while Italy itself was 
overrun by Arian Vandals and other barbarians. The effeminate civil- 
ization of Rome, which Christianity had just raised to a higher level, 
had been nearly destroyed, and the rough manners of the inhabitants 
of the great forests of the North threatened to take its place. Before 
the Church lay the task of drawing the barbarians to itself and mould- 
ing the heterogeneous elements which entered into their ranks. The 
conversion of the Roman world to Christianity had been effected by 
the general body of the clergy, before the distinction had arisen be- 
tween seculars and regulars. The persecutions to which the infant 
Church was subject had helped to preserve its original fervor. How- 
ever, everything on earth is subject to decay, and as the spirit of the 
world gradually encroached upon that of the martyrs, sanctity with- 
drew into the deserts. The seed was planted of a great tree that was 
to cover the world with its branches. This tree was the monastic 
state. Its institution was providential, for from its bosom men were 
to go forth, who, educated on the principles of the severest asceticism 
and in the spirit of the early Church, would walk in the footsteps of 
the apostles, and draw the heathen world to Christ, and thus to civiliza- 
tion. 

One of the earliest monastic missionaries of whom we have a record 
was St. Severinus, the apostle of Noricum, or Austria. The early part 
of his life had been spent in the deserts of the East, but his zeal for the 
glory of God directed him toward the countries of the North. He 
successfully preached the gospel in the country along the Danube, 
where he established many monasteries. He died in the year 482. 

St. Paternus, who had professed the monastic life in the monastery 
of Ansion in the diocese of Poitiers, and also in Wales, and who after- 




113 



116 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



wards became bishop of Avranches, converted many idolaters in the 
diocese of Coutances. This saint died about the year 550. 

It was in the same century that St. Gregory the Great sent St. 
Augustine and his companions from St. Andrew's monastery in Rome 
to convert the Anglo-Saxons, and that the Irish monk, St. Columbanus, 
with his disciple, St. Gall, preached to the idolaters on the lake of 
Zurich. St. Columbkille of Iona, about the same period, labored suc- 
cessfully at the conversion of the Picts in Scotland with their king, 
Bridius. 

The faith had been planted among the Anglo-Saxons by the Roman 
monks, but the Church was far from being perfectly established in 
England. The work of St. Augustine was to be consolidated. St. 
Wilfrid, who had embraced monastic life in the monastery of Lind- 
isfarne, and who afterwards travelled on the continent, became the 
apostle of the South Saxons. He founded the monastery of Ripon, 
where he was ordained priest in 663. He was consecrated bishop in 
664, and, in 669, he was placed in possession of the See of York. The 
monastic state was one of the principal objects of St. Wilfrid's care, 
and he established it among the Midland and Northern English. On 
a voyage to Rome, he was driven by a storm upon the coast of Fries- 
land, and he remained there for some time, preaching the faith and 
converting many of the inhabitants. It was on his return to England 
, that he labored at the conversion of the South Saxons. St. Wilfrid 
died in the year 709. 

The work begun among the Frisians \ by St. Wilfrid, was con- 
tinued by his disciple, St. Willibrord. This saint w T as born in the king- 
dom of Northumberland, about the year 658, and in his tender childhood 
he was placed by his parents in the monastery of Ripon, which was 
then governed by its founder, St. Wilfrid. He landed with his com- 
panions in the country that is now the Netherlands, about the year 
690. St. Willibrord became the first bishop of Utrecht, and after 
many years of apostolic labors, he died about the year 739. 
While St. Willibrord was devoting the last years of his life to the con- 
i version of the Frisians, St. Boniface, an English monk, labored zealous- 
ly for the conversion of the heathen in Germany, whither he had been 
sent by Pope Gregory II. His baptismal name had been Winfrid, but the 
Pope changed it to that of Boniface. The saint wmohad been consecrated 
bishop, fixed his metropolitan See at Mentz. He also founded the cele- 
brated abbey of Fulda, which became the head of a Benedictine con- 
gregation. St. Boniface suffered martyrdom in the year 755, together 
with fifty-two companions. In the ninth century, St. Methodius, a 
Greek monk, labored, together with St. Cyril, at the conversion of the 



INFL TJENGE OF THE EARLY MONKS. 



m 



slavish nations, while St. Anscharius, a monk of Old Corbie in France, 
and afterwards of Little Corbie in Saxony, planted the faith in Scan- 
dinavia. Thus did the monks propagate the Christian religion 
throughout Europe. It was not, however, on the missionary field alone 
that their influence was felt; they became also the instructors of the 
people, and learning owes them an immense debt of gratitude. 

Before the universities were established, the great monasteries had 
their public schools for the training of youth, and every monastery had 
its library and its scriptorium in which books were copied. As the 
rule, of St. Benedict prescribed labor during certain hours of the day, 
most of the monks occupied themselves with this work which has saved 
the treasures of Christian and pagan antiquity from utter ruin, and 
preserved them for future ages. The monastery of Peterborough in 
England alone possessed one thousand, seven hundred manuscripts. 
The chroniclers of the monasteries also preserved from oblivion the 
record of public events, and thus gathered material for future histori- 
ans. Without the labors of these patient inhabitants of the cloister,, 
the construction of mediaeval history might have been impossible. 

Agriculture, too, is much indebted to the monks, who reclaimed waste 
lands, and, by their example, taught the art of cultivating the fields. 
The monasteries also became centres of population, for wherever one 
existed, a village or town grew up around it. It may, then, in truth, 
be said that the monks were the most potent auxiliaries of the Church 
in civilizing Europe. 




CAMALDOLI. 



ST. ROMUALD. — RULES OF THE ORDER OF CAMALDOLI.— ST. MICHAEL 
OF MURANO.— CAMALDOLESE NUNS. — MONTE CORONA.— TURIN AND 
FRANCE. 

THE Order of Camaldoli, a branch of the great Benedictine tree, owes 
its origin to St. Romuald. This saint was born at Ravenna, in 
the tenth century. His }^outh was far from being regular, but in the 
midst of his worldly pleasures he found no rest, and he was tormented 
by remorse of conscience. An incident in his life turned the tide of his 
career and determined his vocation. His father, Sergius, having cer- 
tain difficulties with a relative concerning property, both decided to 
settle the matter by combat. The result was that Sergius killed his 
adversary. Romuald had been obliged by his father to be present at 
the duel, and this event had such an effect upon him, that consider- 
ing himself guilty, he determined to do penance for the crime, and 
retired to Monte Casino to expiate the misdeed during forty days, as 
murderers were then wont to do. While there grace worked so 
powerfully upon his heart that he begged for the religious habit and 
obtained it. His fervent life among the Benedictines of Monte Casino, 
being a reproach to several religious who had greatly degenerated 
, from the sanctity of their state, these determined to put an end to his 
life. This iniquitous plot was, however, revealed to him by one of the 
accomplices. Having asked from the abbot and the religious the per- 
mission to leave the abbey, it was granted, for they seemed glad to 
be rid of him. He now abandoned Monte Casino, and placed himself 
under the direction of a holy hermit living near Venice, named Mar- 
inus. After leading a life of great austerity, and wandering from 
place to place, building monasteries and endeavoring to reform others, 
St. Romuald finally settled, in the year 1012, at a spot on the Apen- 
nines called Camaldoli. By this time he had become priest. Here he 
built five cells, separated one from the other, with a little oratory 
dedicated to the Saviour of the world. The first religious of St. 
Romuald lived separately, and assembled at stated intervals in the 
oratory to sing the Divine Office. Some of them, however, were 
recluses who never left their cells. Each one took his meals alone, and 
during Lent they fasted every day, except Sunday, on bread and 

118 



CAMALDOLI. 



119 



water. The same fast was also observed on Monday, Wednesday, and 
Friday throughout the year. 

Saint Romuald, having founded other monasteries besides that of 
Camaldoli, died at Valle de Castro after a long life of penitence and 
sanctity. The year of his death is uncertain. The order he had 
founded was approved by Pope Alexander II. in 1072. At that time 
it possessed nine monasteries and it was governed by the prior of 
Camaldoli, as general of the order, an office which was held for life. 
The first Constitutions were given by Blessed Rodolph, the fourth gen- 
eral, who governed the order twenty -three years. He slightly mod- 
erated the rigor of the first monks and introduced certain modifica- 
tions into the fast, allowing the religious to eat fish and drink wine on 
certain feasts of the year. 

Blessed Rodolph built a beautiful monastery at Fontebuono, situated 
at the foot of the mountain, whence all that is necessary was sent up 
to the hermits. The mountain is covered with snow during: well- 
nigh two-thirds of the year. To Fontebuono were attached a phar- 
macy, a voluminous library, and apartments for guests. The monks 
in that monastery lead a cenobitical life, while those on the mountain 
are hermits. No woman is allowed to approach the hermitages within 
a distance of three hundred feet. 

During the administration of Blessed Rodolph, the Order of Cam- 
aldoli was greatly propagated. The female branch owes its origin to 
the same saintly man. 

The constitutions of the religious of this order were frequently 
modified, and mitigations were introduced. Thus Blessed Martin, in 
1254, Father Bonaventure, in 1333, and others, at various periods, 
wrought certain changes. The order itself was divided into five con- 
gregations, namely, that of Camaldoli or the Holy Hermitage, of St. 
Michael of Murano, of the hermits of St. Romuald, of Monte Corona, 
of Turin, and of France. 

The monks of the Congregation of Camaldoli have special constitu- 
tions, which were approved by Clement X. in 167 1 . They eat to- 
gether in the refectory on the principal feasts of the year. On the 
days on which they fast on bread and water, they take their meals 
seated on the ground, and barefooted. On the Feast of St. Martin and 
on Quinquagesima Sunday they are allowed to speak, and during the 
week preceding these two days they are sent out to take recreation. 
From Easter until the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 
with the exception of W ednesdays and Fridays, they receive a colla- 
tion in the morning. The great fast from September 14 until Easter 
was made optional, Advent being excepted. On the whole, as regards 



120 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fasting, the original rule of St. Benedict had been greatly mitigated, 
and the hermits of Camaldoli are less severe than several other relig- 
ious orders, as we shall see in the course of this work. 

The hermits elect their general every two years. The hermitage, 
in course of time, became very rich. The monks spend their novi- 
tiate at the monastery of Fontebuono, after which they ascend to the 
mountain. Those who are unable to support the austerities of the 
hermitage live at the same monastery, where the religious lead a cen- 
obitical life subject to the prior of the hermits. 

II. 

THE CONGREGATION OF ST. MICHAEL OF MURANO, AND THE CAM- 

ALDOLESE NUNS. 

All the religious of this congregation are cenobites, dwelling in 
monasteries. Helyot is of opinion that they were originally hermits, 
but that they afterwards adopted the cenobitical life. The monastery 
which gave its name to the congregation was founded in 1212 by three 
Camaldolese hermits on a little island between Venice and Murano. 
The monks of this monastery lived at first a very retired life, but the 
association with strangers, facilitated by their proximity to Venice, 
caused them to lose the spirit of solitude, and they adopted the cen- 
obitical life in 1300. Their example was imitated by other monasteries 
which had been built in or near cities, especially that of St. Mathias de 
Murano, to which the general, Martin III., had given special constitu- 
tions, seeing that they were unable to follow entirely those of the 
hermitage of Camaldoli. The cenobites remained united to the her- 
mits, with whom they formed the same order until 1476, when they es- 
tablished a separate congregation under the title of St. Michael of 
Murano. Until then the generalship had been alternately vested in a 
hermit and in a cenobite. In the first half of the fifteenth century the 
monasteries of the cenobites, both monks and nuns, had become ex- 
ceedingly relaxed, but they were reformed by Father Ambrose de 
Portico, general of the order. 

In the year 151 3 Leo X. again united the congregations of the 
hermits and the cenobites. From this time the general ceased to be 
elected for life, and could hold his office only two years, which term 
was afterwards extended to three. This union lasted until 1616, when 
the Congregation of St Michael of Murano was finally separated from 
that of the hermits. 

The monks of this congregation fast nearly half of the year, and 
observe perpetual abstinence. The Camaldolese nuns, who, as has 



CAMALDOLL 



121 



been remarked, were founded by Blessed Rodolph, observed the same 
rules as the monks. 

Pope Gregory XVI. was a monk of this order, and before his pro- 
motion to the Cardinalate he had been abbot of the monastery of St. 
Michael de Murano. 

III. 

CAMALDOLESE HERMITS OF THE CONGREGATION OF ST. ROMUALD, 
OR OF MONTE CORONA. 

In the fifteenth century, the Order of Camaldoli had, with the excep- 
tion of the celebrated hermitage of that name, embraced the cenobiti- 
cal life. These cenobites were divided into two separate classes that 
styled themselves observants and conventuals, and usurped the gov- 
ernment of the order, which by right belonged to the hermits of Cam- 
aldoli. The observants still practised the rule and elected their su- 
periors every three years, while among the conventuals, who were 
greatly relaxed, the offices were perpetual. 

About this time the order possessed a man who was destined by 
Divine Providence to bring about an important reformation. This 
was Father Paul Giustiniani, born in 1470 at Venice. He entered the 
hermitage of Camaldoli in 15 10, and soon became a perfect model of 
the monastic life. At the request of the general, Delphino, and of 
Father Giustiniani, Leo X. ordered that a general chapter should be 
held. It was convened in 15 13. In this chapter it was decided that 
the monks, both observants and conventuals, should be united with 
the hermits. The general was to be taken by turns from the hermits 
and the observants ; but the conventuals were excluded from any 
share in the government of the order, and were forbidden to receive 
novices. They were afterwards suppressed by Pope Pius V. Each 
congregation preserved, however, its peculiar constitutions. As those 
of the hermits were in a confused state, Father Giustiniani was depu- 
ted to regulate them. 

After filling various posts of distinction in his order, Father Gius- 
tiniani obtained a brief of Leo X., permitting him to propagate the in- 
stitution of the hermits of Camaldoli throughout the world, and to form 
a new congregation, to which he gave the name of St. Romuald 
of the Order of Camaldoli. It was at the same time exempted 
from the jurisdiction of the superiors of the order. At the hermitage 
there were various opinions concerning his plan, some regarding it as 
a divine inspiration, and others as madness. He left Camaldoli with one 
brother, and he was afterwards joined by a hermit of the Third Order of 



122 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



St. Francis, a member of the Dominican order, and two other persons. 
They took up their abode in a rugged spot in the Apennines, but after 
some time, Father Giustiniani was abandoned by the Franciscan and 
Dominican, and he remained alone with his three other companions. 
Soon after the hermits of Camaldoli, having made offer to him of a place 
near them, he accepted it, and in a short time he was joined by others so 
that he was enabled to establish several hermitages. Giustiniani now 
gave a rule to his new congregation, and altered the habit of his religious 
so that there might be a distinction between them and the hermits of 
Camaldoli. They now began to live in a very austere and penitential 
manner. Father Giustiniani, after a very saintly life, died June 28, 1 528. 
He was succeeded as general of his congregation by Augustine de 
Basciano, but the latter being taken off by the pestilence which then 
raged in Italy, Justinian de Bergamo, who from a Benedictine had 
become a Camaldolese, and from that order had passed to the Congre- 
gation of St. Romuald, was elected in his stead. During the general- 
ship of this father, the hermitage of Monte Corona near Perugia was 
chosen to be the chief -place of the congregation. It afterwards 
rivalled Camaldoli in solitude and beauty. The hermits of Camaldoli 
and those of Monte Corona were several times united into one body,, 
but the union never proved lasting, and they were finally separated in 
1667. The Congregation of St. Romuald obtained establishments, not 
only in Italy, but also in Austria and Poland. The former were after- 
wards suppressed by Joseph II. Each province had its own novitiate. 
These hermits follow nearly the same rule as those of Camaldoli. 
They recite Matins at midnight, and in a standing position. Their 
silence is perpetual, with the exception of two days in winter and three 
days in summer, on which they are allowed to converse. They have 
an hour of manual labor every day. Women are never allowed to 
enter their churches, Their habit is at present very much like that of 
the hermits of Camaldoli. 

IV. 

CAMALDOLESE HERMITS OF TURIN AND FRANCE. 

There existed a fourth congregation of Camaldolese monks at 
Turin. It was founded by Father Alexander de Leva, who died in the 
odor of sanctity in the year 1612. It began under the protection of 
Charles Augustus of Savoy in 1601. 

A fifth congregation was established in France in the early part of 
the seventeenth century by Father Boniface Anthony of Lyons, 
Camaldolese hermit of the Congregation of Turin. This Father 



GAM ALB OLI. 



123 



came over to France, in 1626, with the permission of his superiors, and 
established two foundations : one in Dauphine, and the other in Forez. 
Louis XIII. allowed the religious of this order to remain in France 
under condition that they would be subject to no other but French 
superiors. Urban VIII. , in 1635, erected them into a separate congre- 
gation under the title of Our Lady of Consolation, at the same time 
decreeing that they should live according to the constitutions of the 
Camaldolese of Monte Corona. They founded several monasteries 
in France, where they continued to live until the French revolution 
suppressed their order in that country. 1 

1 Bertouch — Kurzgefasste Geschichte der Geistlichen Genossenschaften. 




VALLOMBROSA. 



FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER. — REFORMATION OF THE CLERGY. — GOV- 
ERNMENT.— NUNS OF VALLOMBROSA. 

THIS order was founded by St. John Gualbert. In his youth a 
relative of his had been murdered, and he determined to avenge 
his death. On a certain day he happened to meet his enemy in a place 
where there was no escape for the latter. He was about to pierce the 
murderer with his sword, when the unfortunate man cast himself upon 
his knees before him, and, with his arms extended in the form of a cross, 
begged him for pardon in the name of Jesus Christ crucified. His 
heart was touched, and he immediately forgave his enemy. If the 
Middle Ages were periods of great passions, they were also periods 
of heroic virtues, of which we have an instance in this event of the life 
of St. John Gualbert, an event that decided his future career. After 
this generous act of forgiveness, he entered a church, where God work- 
ed a miracle which impressed him deeply. While he prayed before a 
crucifix, the image inclined itself toward him. He now became a 
monk in the monastery of St. Miniatus, where he made his profession, 
and where he was soon after chosen abbot. Being desirous of greater 
solitude and higher perfection, he left the monastery and retired to 
Camaldoli, where he remained for some time, without, however, join- 
ing the order. From here he directed his steps to a place in the Apen- 
nines called Aqua-Bella, which afterwards received the name of Val- 
lombrosa, on account of its being a valley overshadowed by numerous 
pine forests, which cover the neighboring hills. It was probably about 
the year 1039 that the Order of Vallombrosa began. Numerous dis- 
ciples soon joined the saint, and the monastery was established in the 
form of a hermitage. When a candidate applied for admission into the 
order, his constancy was first tried by the most humiliating labors be- 
fore his entering the novitiate. Having become a novice, he was ex- 
pected to observe the rule of St. Benedict to the letter. After pro- 
fession he was obliged to lie prostrate for three days, meditating on 
the Passion of Christ. The first habit of the Vallombrosians was grey, 

124 



VALLOMBROSA. 



125 



but, four centuries later, it was changed for one of a brown color, and 
it much resembled that of the Franciscans. The first example we find 
of lay brothers, distinct from the choir religious, is given to us in this 
monastery. Saint John Gualbert himself received them into the order. 

The saint founded several monasteries, all according to the strictest 
rule of poverty. He was of opinion that the money spent by religious 
on the building of palatial dwellings might be put to better use were 
it given to the poor. He was opposed to receiving gifts for his 
monastery if the heirs of the donor suffered thereby. 

The example of the saint produced a salutary effect on the lives of 
the clergy. He was a declared enemy of all manner of simony, and he 
may be said to have been for the eleventh century an intrepid and 
fearless reformer. He and his religious strenuously opposed the bish- 
op of Florence, who was accused of having bought the episcopacy, 
and they succeeded by their agitation in having him deposed. This 
same bishop was afterwards converted, and he even entered their or- 
der. Saint John Gualbert died in 1073. 

At first the generals of the order were elected for life, but, afterwards 
held their office only three, and finally four years. Among the char- 
ities practised by the Order of Vallombrosa was that of giving dowries 
to poor girls on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. 

The Order of Vallombrosa produced many saints and illustrious men. 
At present its members wear a black habit. 

The female branch of the Order of Vallombrosa was not instituted 
by St. John Gualbert himself, but about two hundred years after his 
death. Its foundress was St. Humility, who was born in 1226, and 
baptized Rosana. Her early life was spent in the greatest innocence 
and piety. After the death of her parents, she married out of obedi- 
ence to her guardians, Ugolotto Caccia-Nemici. After nine years of 
wedded life, they separated by mutual consent. The husband entered 
the Order of Canons Regular of St. Mark of Mantua, and his wife be- 
came a nun among the sisters of the same order, changing her name 
of Rosana for that of Humility. She did not, however, remain in that 
monastery, but leaving it, took up her abode in a cell situated near the 
Church of St. Apollinaris, which belonged to the abbey of St. Crispin, 
of the Order of Vallombrosa. Here she lived as a recluse for tw r elve 
years, practising the greatest austerities, and spending her time in 
prayer and meditation. At the solicitation of the bishop of Faenza, 
she left her retreat and built a monastery. She caused her sisters to 
practice the rule of St. Benedict and the observances of the Order of 
Vallombrosa, and placed her monastery under the jurisdiction of thegen- 
eral of that order. After a few years she built another monastery at 



126 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Florence. The saint possessed the gift of miracles, which rendered 
her name illustrious. She died in 1310, having attained her eighty- 
fifth year. 

The nuns of this order wear a black habit, and follow the same ob- 
servances as the monks. The Order of Vallombrosa never spread out- 
Bide of Italy, 




JERPOINT ABBEY. 



THE ORDER OF CITEAUX. 



MOLESME. — CITEAUX. — ST. BERNARD. — WONDERFUL INCREASE. — RELAX 
ATIONS. — CISTERCIAN ORDER IN IRELAND. — THE HABIT. — REFORMS. 
— THE FEUILLANTS. — ORVAL. — SEPT-FONS. 

WE have now arrived at the most important branch of the Bene- 
dictine family, an order which, born in the midst of solitude, 
spread rapidly over Europe, gave to the Church one of its greatest 
doctors, and even to-day fills the world with astonishment at the con- 
templation of its exalted virtue. The Cistercians look upon St. Rob- 
ert as the founder of their order. This saint was a native of Cham- 
pagne. At the age of fifteen, he embraced the monastic state in the 
abbey of Moutier-la-Celle of the Order of St. Benedict. At the com- 
mand of the Pope he took upon himself the government of certain her- 
mits who lived in a desert called Colan. From here Robert con- 
ducted them to the forest of Molesme where they built themselves 
cells from the branches of trees, and a little oratory in honor of the 
Blessed Trinity. However, such is the inconstancy of human virtue, 
these hermits, having become rich by the liberality of pious persons, 
abandoned their first fervor and fell into relaxation. St. Robert, not 
being able to influence them, retired to another desert, called Haur, 
where certain religious lived together in great piety. A short time 
afterwards the hermits of Molesme invoked the authority of the Pope 
to force him to return to them. They had promised to live according 
to the rule of St. Benedict, which they nevertheless neglected. Some 
of them, stung by remorse, determined to amend their lives, but they 
were ridiculed by the less fervent. Not being able to accomplish 
their pious design at Molesme, six of the monks, Alberic, Odo, John r 
Stephen, Letalde, and Peter, together with their saintly abbot, went 
to Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons and Legate of the Holy See, and ob- 
tained permission to leave Molesme. They chose the most fervent 
among the religious of that place, and to the number of twenty-one 
established themselves at Cifeaux, near Dijon, a dense forest in the dio- 
cese of Chalons. With the consent of the bishop and of the viscount 
of Beaune, to whom the lands belonged, they began to clear the place 
and build wooden cells. Here they took up their abode on March 2 t 

127 



128 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



1098, the Feast of St. Benedict, which that year fell on Palm Sunday. 
At the request of the Archbishop of Lyons, Eudes, Duke of Burgundy 
built a monastery for them, gave them lands and cattle, and provided 
them with the necessaries of life. The new monastery being erected 
into an abbey, St. Robert became its first abbot. He was, however, 
once more obliged to take upon himself the government of the mon- 
astery of Molesme, at the request of the religious of that place, and by 
the desire of the Sovereign Pontiff. There he ended his days in 
1 108. 

After the departure of St. Robert, St. Alberic was elected abbot in 

1099. In the year 1 100, Pope Pascal II. took the abbey of Citeaux 
under his protection. St. Alberic and his religious now drew up the 
first regulations for the government of their monastery, and it was de- 
creed that they should observe the rule of St. Benedict to the letter. 
Saint Alberic placed his monastery under the protection of the Blessed 
Virgin, to whom the Order of Citeaux is especially dedicated. From 
this time, too, it appears, the monks of that order began to wear white, 
as they do at the present day. Saint Alberic died in 1109, and he was 
succeeded by St. Stephen Harding," an Englishman. During the lat- 
ter's administration the abbey was subjected to rude trials. The 
great austerity of the religious was cause that they received no new 
accessions, while the number of those who had begun the order be- 
came greatly diminished by death. But in the case of Citeaux the 
darkest hour was the one that preceded the dawn. St. Stephen had 
almost despaired of seeing his work perpetuated, when thirty-one gen- 
tlemen applied for admission. They were headed by one who was 
destined to become the most illustrious ornament of Citeaux, the great 
St. Bernard. Their example was soon followed by others, and the 
number of religious became so great that St. Stephen began to con- 
template the establishment of new monasteries. The first one hejfounded 
was at La Ferte in 11 13; then followed Pontigni, Clairvaux, of which 
St. Bernard became abbot, and several others. These abbeys were 
united by St. Stephen into one body, and the first statutes of the order 
called the Charter of Charity, which prescribe the literal observance 
of the rule of St. Benedict, were drawn up. 

The order was confirmed by Calixtus II. in 11 19, by Eugene III. in 
1 1 52, and by several of their successors. It made enormous progress, 
and fifty years after its foundation possessed five hundred abbeys, 
and, a little more than a century later, this number had risen to eigh- 
teen hundred. St. Bernard alone had founded sixty from the abbey of 
Clairvaux. The author of this work spent once a most agreeable day 
in the ancient Cistercian abbey of Val-Dieu, in Belgium, where proba- 



THE ORDER OF CI TEA UX. 12£ 

bly St. Bernard himself had sojourned. From the silent walls of its 
cloisters the pictures of the abbots of past centuries looked down upon 
their modern visitor. But the glory of the ancient abbey had waned, 
and the walls of its ruined church bore the mark which the hand of 
time had impressed upon them. Four monks dwelt there who were 
endeavoring to live up to the reformed rule of Citeaux. 

The religious of this order were the admiration of the world, and 
until the end of the thirteenth century the regular observance was 
still kept up in its abbeys. It was in one of these abodes of sanctity,, 
the abbey of Fossa Nuova, that the illustrious son of St. Dominic, the 
great St. Thomas Aquinas, ended his days, being taken sick while on 
his journey to the Second Council of Lyons. 

In the beginning of the fourteenth century several monasteries be- 
gan to relax. Pope Benedict XII., who had been a monk of the order, 
remedied these abuses for a time, but they again appeared, and several 
mitigations were introduced. Until then the order in all parts of 
Europe had been united, but these relaxations were the cause that sev- 
eral religious in Spain formed a separate congregation in 1426. This 
was the first reformation of the Order of Citeaux. Its author was Mar- 
tin de Vargas. Regulations made for the reformation of the monas- 
teries show that the gravest disorders had become sadly common in 
that order once so fervent. Several reforms were now inaugurated, 
and new congregations formed, such as those of Lombardy and Tus- 
cany, the Feuillans, and that of the Strict Observance. The first of 
these was established in 1497. 

The Cistercian order was introduced into Ireland shortly after its 
birth in France. In 1194 Donald, king of Limerick, founded a monas- 
tery for Cistercians at Corcumroe, in the county of Clare, which lasted 
until the Protestant Reformation, when the suppression of monasteries 
took place. There existed also foundations belonging to the Cistercian 
order at Abbey Mahon in the county of Cork, Astrath, county of 
Donegall, and Moycoscain, county of Derry. Two years before the 
foundation of the monastery at Corcumroe by King Donald, another 
called Gray Abbey, situated on Lough Strangford, had been built by 
the wife of Sir John de Courcy, the same who in 11 77 invaded Ulster 
and defeated the Irish near Downpatrick. A few years previous, in 
1 1 72, a monastery of the Cistercian order had been founded at Carigi- 
liky, in the county of Cork, by Dermot M'Cormac McCarthy, king of 
Desmond, which lasted until the suppression. At an earlier period, in 
1 148 the abbey of Newry, in the county of Down, had been established ; 
this was also one of the monasteries suppressed at the period of the 
Protestant Reformation. In 1 380 Parliament decreed that no Irishman 



130 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



should be admitted to profession in the Cistercian Abbey at Tracton, 
in the county of Cork. The abbot of this monastery had a seat in 
Parliament as a baron. There existed also Cistercian abbeys at Fer- 
moy and Middletown, both in the county of Cork, and in other places. 
The Order of Citeaux has given to the Church at least two Popes, 
Eugene III. and Benedict XII., about forty cardinals, and a great num- 
ber of archbishops, bishops, and writers. The institution of general 
chapters in the West began in this order, and it was borrowed from it 
by other religious communities. These chapters were first held at 
Citeaux every year, and later every three years. 

The habit of the Cistercian monks consists of a white cassock and 
black scapular, and a white cowl, which is worn in choir. The lay- 
brothers are clad in brown. The Cistercians in France and Belgium 
are also called Bernardines on account of St. Bernard, who was the 
principal propagator of the order. Citeaux also possesses its branch 
of female religious, although historians do not agree concerning the 
time when it was first founded, some ascribing it to St. Bernard him- 
self, and others to St. Humbeline, sister of the saint. The color of 
their habit is the same as that of the monks. 

II. 

CONGREGATION OF THE OBSERVANCE OF CITEAUX IN SPAIN. 

This congregation was founded by Martin de Vargas, about the year 
1425, with the approbation of Pope Martin V., who released it from the 
jurisdiction of the order and gave permission to the religious of the 
other monasteries of the same order, to pass over to the reform even 
without the permission of their superiors. The monks of this reform 
led a fervent and austere life. In 1437 Pope Eugene IV. decreed that 
they should again be subject to the jurisdiction of the abbot of Ci- 
teaux. 

They did not take the vow of stability, and might be changed from 
one monastery to the other. They were allowed to eat meat three 
times a week, and to converse together once in the same space of 
time. 

III. 

OTHER CONGREGATIONS. 

In 1497 Pope Alexander VI. united all the Cistercian monasteries in 
Tuscany and Lombard y into one congregation under the title of St. 
Bernard, but some time after revoked his decision. It was not until 
the reign of Julius II. that this congregation was again formed. . The 



THE ORDER OF CITE A TJX. 



131 



president thereof was obliged to assist at the general chapter of Ci- 
teaux. 

In 1616 was formed the Congregation of Arragon, in 1623 the Roman 
congregation for the kingdom of Naples and the states of the Church, 
and in 1633 that of Our Lady of Calabria. All these were subject to 
the abbot of Citeaux. 

Allied to the Order of Citeaux was also that of Flora in Italy. 

IV. 

CONGREGATION OF THE FEUILLANTS. 

One of the most important reforms in the Cistercian order was that 
of the Feui Hants, so called from the abbey of Feuillans in France, of 
which the founder of the congregation, Dom John de la Barriere was 
commendatory abbot in 1565. In 1573 he determined to abandon the 
world, and having entered into the order, made his vows in the abbey 
of St. Anne, and thus became regular abbot of Feuillans. We shall see 
in the course of this history that it was in like manner that the cele- 
brated reform of de Ranee was begun. 

John de la Barriere now began to experience that it is not such an 
easy task to reform a monastery which has fallen into relaxation, as 
little as it is to recall to his first fervor a religious who has lost the 
spirit of his vocation. The opposition the abbot experienced was so 
great that he resolved to abandon his abbey and live in solitude after 
the manner of the ancient hermits. Being dissuaded from this step by 
enlightened friends, he returned to his first determination to introduce 
a reform into his abbey. But obstacles increased around him, his re- 
ligious abandoned him, and there were some who went so far as to 
make an attempt on his life. Nothing daunted, he continued alone 
to live in great austerity, until finally he gained the victory by his 
patience aud humility, and many religious ranged themselves under 
his guidance. Their life grew nOw to be so exemplary that they even 
surpassed the ancient monks of Citeaux ; they walked barefooted, slept 
on planks, and practised many other austerities. Pope Sixtus V. approv- 
ed their manner of life in 1586, but left them subject, to the jurisdiction 
of the order. When the congregation had spread in France and Italy, 
God permitted that the founder should become an object of persecution 
from the side of his own religious. He was suspended from his office, 
having been unjustly accused. The first chapter of this congregation 
was held in Italy, and the custom of adding the names of saints to their 
own name and abandoning those of their families was introduced. This 
chapter was held in 1592, About the same time the congregation was 



132 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



exempted from the jurisdiction of the Order of Citeaux, and submitted 
directly to the Apostolic See. The chapter of 1595, at the command 
of the Pope, moderated the excessive austerities of the order, and 
among other things permitted the religious to use eggs, hsh, oil, butter, 
and salt, with the exception of certain days of special abstinence. Be- 
sides their great fast from September to Easter, they were also to fast 
on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. 

After a long and patient suffering of years, the innocence of John de 
la Barriere finally came to light, his enemies were put to shame, and he 
was reinstated in the good graces of the Holy See. He did not long sur- 
vive this reinstatement, for the saintly man died at Rome in the year 
1600, and he was buried with extraordinary honors. In 1630, Urban 
VIII. divided the congregation into two separate bodies, one for 
Italy and the other for France. Those of France were called the Con- 
gregation of Oar Lady of Feuillans, while those of Italy took the name 
of the Reformed Cistercians of St. Bernard. Each of these congrega- 
tions was governed by a general of its own. The habit of the relig- 
ious w r as white, without the ordinary black scapular of Citeaux. This 
order gave several eminent men to the Church, among others the cele- 
brated Cardinal Bona. 

A female branch of the order was also founded by Dom John de la 
Barriere, which was submitted to the immediate jurisdiction of the 
monks of their congregation. 

V. 

CONGREGATION OF ORVAL. 

The founder of this congregation was Dom Bernard de Mongaillard, 
known in France as the Petit-Feuillant, Born in 1562, at the age of six- 
teen he entered the order of the Feuillants, which had just been founded 
by Dom John de la Barriere. After his profession, he began to preach 
in several cities of France, and became the instrument of numerous 
conversions. By special dispensation of Gregory XIII. he was or- 
dained priest at the age of nineteen. His life was most exemplary, and 
he treated himself with the utmost rigor. However, this austere and 
saintly youth was brought into serious difficulties by joining the party 
of the League against the king, to whom the abbot of Feuillans, Dom 
John de la Barriere, had remained faithful. When Henry IV. entered 
Paris, Bernard left it. Having gone to Rome, he was kindly received 
by Clement V1IL, who made him pass over from the Feuillants to the 
Order of Citeaux. He then went to Belgium where he was made ex- 
traordinary preacher at the court of the Archduke Albert. In 1605 



THE ORDER OF CITE A UX. 



133 



he became abbot of Orval, which he began to reform in the midst of 
the greatest difficulties. Having beheld his efforts crowned with suc- 
cess, he departed this life in 1628. 

The monastery of Orval was situated in the duchy of Luxemburg 
in the Ardennes, and it had been founded in 1070 by Benedictine 
monks, who in 1 131 were succeeded by Cistercians, sent by St. Bernard 
himself. At the time when Dom Bernard became abbot, it had greatly 
relaxed from its ancient fervor. After his death, it again fell away 
from the observance to which he had raised it, but Charles de Bent- 
zeradt, religious of the monastery, undertook once more to reform it. 
Having become abbot in 1668, he succeeded in this enterprise by dint 
of perseverance. The reform was introduced in 1674. The religious 
of Orval began to observe to the letter the rule of St. Benedict, and 
led a life almost similar to that of the most austere Trappists. Unfor- 
tunately, Jansenism penetrated into this monastery, and advanced to 
such a degree that several of the religious fled from it and formed a 
community of their own under the Jansenist Archbishop of Utrecht, 
at Ryswyck in Holland. Most of these religious were buried in the 
cloisters of St. Mary's church at Utrecht. The reform of Orval did 
not last long, and the monastery again fell into relaxation. 

VI. j 

CISTERCIANS OF THE STRICT OBSERVANCE IN FRANCE. 

The Order of Citeaux having fallen away from its ancient fervor, 
Dom Denis l'Argentier, abbot of Ciairvaux,aman already far advanced 
in years, began, in 161 5, a reformation of his own abbey. He removed 
the abuses which existed and reestablished the ancient austerities of 
the order, such as the fasting and perpetual abstinence from meat, the 
silence and manual labor. Several monasteries affiliated to Clairvaux 
imitated his example, so that within two or three years the reform 
was introduced into seven or eight monasteries. This took place with 
the approbation of Dom Nicolas Boucherat, abbot-general of Citeaux. 
The general chapter of 161 8 appeared to favor the reform, but in reality, 
endeavored to crush it in its infancy. It proposed a moderate and mit- 
igated observance for the whole order, for the sake, as was said, of 
uniformity. The decrees enacted were, however, not carried into effect, 
and they remained a dead letter. 

At that time, nearly all the ancient orders in France had departed 
from their first fervor, and they were living in great relaxation. 
King Louis XIII. , however, obtained a brief of Pope Gregory XV., 
authorizing the cardinal de la Rochefoucault to begin a general refor- 



134 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



mation. The Order of Citeaux took the alarm, and the general and the 
four chief abbots determined to submit in appearance, but to elude as 
much as possible the execution of the brief. Those, on the contrary, 
who had embraced the strict observance, were determined to enforce it. 
Clairvaux and the monasteries descended from it were united into one 
congregation, and the general of the order and the four chief abbots 
promised to aid the reform. Their promises, however, were not sincere, 
and in the next general chapter they undid all that had been effected. 
Those of the strict observance, nevertheless, persevered in their 
good resolutions. Denis l'Argentier died in 1624. After his death, the 
troubles between the religious of the common and those of the strict 
observance increased. In 1635 the monasteries of the latter were again 
united into one congregation, but they remained subject to the general 
of the whole order. Cardinal de Richelieu gave his entire protection 
to it. Nevertheless dissensions continued for a long time to exist. 

VII. 

REFORM OF SEPT-FONS. 

This reform was brought about by Dom Eustache de Beaufort, abbot 
of the monastery of Sept-Fons, a young priest who had entered the 
ecclesiastical state out of ambition, and had lived in it the life of a man 
of the world. Having been induced by his brother to make a retreat 
in a convent of Discalced Carmelite Friars, he was thoroughly con- 
verted. Failing at first in his design of reforming his abbey, he wished 
to resign his dignit}* and retire to the abbey of La Trappe, where Dom 
de Ranee had already begun the reform of which we will treat in the 
following chapter. Being dissuaded from this, he returned to his abbey, 
where he began his work. The life of the religious that embraced his 
reform was very much like that led by the Trappists of the Primitive 
Observance of Citeaux. Dom Eustache de Beaufort, having governed 
his monastery forty-five years after the Reform, died October 22, 
1709. His conversion had taken place in 1663. At the epoch of the 
French Revolution the Reform of Sept-Fons disappeared. After 
the restoration, the abbey passed into the hands of the Trappists. 




THE TRAPPISTS. 



LA TRAPPE. — DE RANGE. — SUPPRESSION IN FRANCE.— DOM AUGUSTIN. — 
WANDERINGS. — PEACE.— THE TRAPPISTS IN AMERICA. 

A LTHOUGH these religious form a branch of the Order of Citeaux, 
jf\ we have thought it better to consecrate a separate chapter to 
their history, because they are the most known and the most austere 
of the monks of this order, and, secondly, because they possess several 
monasteries in the New World, two of which are situated in our own 
Republic. The Order of Trappists took its name from the abbey of 
Notre Dame de la Maison-Dieu, of La Trappe, founded in 1 140 by Rot- 
rou, count of Perche, for monks of the Congregation of Savigny of the 
Benedictine order, which had been established by one of the disciples 
of Blessed Robert d'Arbrissel, and which might be considered a branch 
of the Order of Fontevrault. Serlori de Valbodon, third general of the 
order, united his entire congregation, that consisted of thirty-three 
abbeys and other dependent monasteries, with the Order of Citeaux. 
This union was confirmed by Pope Eugene III. in 1148. Through the 
instrumentality of St. Bernard the monastery was affiliated to Clair- 
vaux. For a long time this abbey was a source of great edification, 
but it also, with other religious establishments, degenerated and fell 
away from its first fervor. At the time when persons who did not 
belong to the order, began, nevertheless, to hold abbevs, as was said, 
in co'iimendam, the Cardinal of Bellai became commendatory abbot of 
La Trappe, and the religious were, after much opposition, obliged to 
yield to necessity, and accept the administration forced upon them. 
From that time irregularity increased within the walls of the abbey, 
and the religious, from being the edification, became the scandal of the 
country. Temporal ruin soon followed in the wake of spiritual deca- 
dence, the monastery became almost uninhabitable, and the few relig- 
ious who remained only met for their diversion. 

Th ugs were in this condition, when Armand Jean le Bouthillier de 
Ranee became commendatory abbot of La Trappe. This celebrated man 
was born on January 9th, 1626. He had been destined for the career 
of arms, but the death of his elder brother, an ecclesiastic, caused his 
father to decide that J can- Armand should leave itfor that of the Church. 

135 



136 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Thus did parents frequently, guided by a spirit ol worldliness, decide 
the vocation of their children. By entering the ecclesiastical state, 
Jean-Armand succeeded to the dignities of his brother, and became 
canon of Notre Dame of Paris, and abbot of three different monasteries 
belonging to the Order of Citeaux, St. Augustine and St. Benedict, be- 
sides prior of two other monasteries. He was then about ten or eleven 
years of age. Deplorable abuse fraught with the most dire conse- 
quences ! The young abbot made such prodigious strides in his studies 
that, at the age of twelve, he had edited the poems of Anacreon with 
a Greek commentaiy. Although he was living a life of utter worldli- 
ness, he received the priesthood in 165 1. Finally, in 1660, after years 
spent in vanity and worldly glory, touched by the grace of God, he en- 
tered into himself, renounced his benefices, with the exception of the 
abbey of La Trappe, into which he retired. The religious of that mon- 
astery, hearing that he intended to reform them or call the monks of the 
Strict Observance, threatened to take his life. He nevertheless car- 
ried out his plans, and introduced the monks of the Strict Observance 
in 1662, while the religious whom he had found at La Trappe received 
a pension for their support. The abbot was then invested with the 
religious habit in the abbey of Perseigne of the Strict Observance. 
After his profession, in 1664, he obtained the abbatial benediction, and 
returned to La Trappe. The Strict Observance was not severe, enough 
for him, and he determined to bring back his monastery to the first 
spirit of the Order of Citeaux. By degrees he introduced the most 
austere practices, and succeeded in reviving the ancient observances of 
Citeuax, with the exception of a few, which he deemed were not in ac- 
cordance with the times. He himself gave the example of all that he 
prescribed to his religious, and kept his monastery in its state of aus- 
terity, notwithstanding all the calumnies that were heaped upon him. 

Although the abbot of La Trappe was a student and learned man, he 
vigorously opposed monastic studies, and entered on this subject into a 
controversy with the learned Benedictine Mabillon, who upheld them. 
The Trappists were to be ascetics, not students; laborers, not scholars, 
though a few of them have been authors. 

At length the austerities of his life brought the abbot de Ranee to 
such a state, that, his health being greatly impaired, and feeling that he 
could no longer perfectly fulfil the duties of his office, he resigned it 
into the hands of the king. Dom Zozimus, at the suggestion of de 
Ranee, succeeded him. The last years of the reformer of La Trappe 
were embittered by internal dissensions in the monastery, which, how- 
ever, did not last long, and which arose, as the continuator of Helyot 
informs us, from the excessive confidence which de Ranee had reposed 



THE TRAP FISTS. 



137 



in his secretary, who was a secular. Dom Zozimuswas succeeded by 
Dom Armand-Francjois Gervaise, and the latter, having resigned, Dom 
Jacques de la Cour became abbot. The abbot de Ranee died Octo- 
ber 20th, 1700. 

During the remainder of the eighteenth century, the abbey of La 
Trappe continued to be the edification of the Church in France, and 
served as a retreat for men of all ranks who desired to spend some 
time in solitude. 

When, in 1790, a blow was struck at the religious orders by the Con- 
stituent Assembly, there ensued a serious deliberation as to whether the 
Trappists should be included or not. Two commissaries were des- 
patched to examine the monks, and, in the report, they give the following 
testimony to the religious : " With the exception of five or six monks, 
who seemed to us to be of very limited intelligence, the choir-religious 
have generally an energetic and strong character which has not been 
weakened by fasting and austerities. . . . With some, and it is easy to 
recognize them by the expressions of their declarations, piety is car- 
ried to the supreme degree of enthusiasm. The others, in greater num- 
ber, are penetrated with a calmer and more touching sentiment of piety. 
These have seemed to us to love their state from the depths .of their 
heart, and to find in it a tranquillity, a sort ol rest, which, indeed, must 
have its charms." 

The Trappists were, notwithstanding this declaration, suppressed, 
and the great majority remained faithful to their vocation. The mon- 
astery was at the time of the dispersion without an abbot, the last one 
having died a short time before. By the persevering courage in the 
midst of many obstacles of Dom Augustin de Lestrange, who had been 
master of novices at La Trappe, and, with the permission of the ab- 
bot of Citeaux, general of the order, twenty-four of the monks were 
admitted into the diocese of Friburg in Switzerland, and they took up 
their abode at Val Sainte in a monastery which had at one time been 
occupied by the Carthusians. 1 The abbot of Clairvaux, to whosefilia- 
tion the Trappists belonged, appointed Dom Augustin superior. To 
this energetic man we owe the preservation of the order of the Trap- 
pists. The remaining monks of La Trappe in France were dispersed 
with religious of other orders. 

It was on April 26, 1 791, that Dom Augustin and his companions 
started on their journey to Switzerland. On the wa)^ they observed 
the exercises of their rule and the greatest poverty. Having arrived 
at Val Sainte, they not only preserved the spirit of their reform, but 

1 This same monastery was, after the departure of the Trappists, inhabited for a time by the 
Redemptorist Fathers with their saintly superior, Rev. Joseph Fasserat. 



I 



138 HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

by unanimous consent decided to embrace an even stricter observance, 
which obtained the name of the Reform of Val Sainte. 

The odor of their virtues attracted such a number of postulants to 
their solitude, that, after the year 1794, several new houses of the or- 
der were established in Spain, England, Belgium, and Piedmont. By 
a brief, dated September 30th, 1794, Pius VI. erected the house of Val 
Sainte into an abbey, with Dom Augustin as its abbot, having jurisdic- 
tion over all the affiliated monasteries. 

The progress made by the Revolution forcing the monks to fly, the 
Trappists wandered about through Germany, Russia, and Poland, and 
Dom Augustin established several communities of men and women, 
until, in 1802, he again settled at Val Sainte. 

About the year 1806 the Trappists re-entered France, where they en- 
joyed the protection of the emperor, Napoleon I. Unfortunately, the fa- 
vor of this powerful man did not endure long. Finding himself thwarted 
by the superior of one of the monasteries, he became enraged against 
the entire order. Dom Augustin was obliged to fly to America, where 
he established two houses, which, however, did not long exist. A fter the 
fall of Napoleon he returned to France, where he purchased the abbey 
of La Trappe, and established the monasteries of Aiguebelle, Belle- 
fontaine, and Meilleraye. He died at Lyons, July 16, 1827. 

TheTrappists were for a long time divided into two observances, con- 
sisting of those who follow the rules of the abbot de Ranee, and of those 
who adhere to the primitive observance of Citeaux, which is more 
rigid than the original reform of de Ranee, but these two branches 
have lately been re-united. 

In 1803 the Trappists, persecuted in Europe, determined to seek an 
asylum in America, and a party of them, under the guidance of Father 
Urban Guillet, embarked at Amsterdam for Baltimore, on Maj- 29th, 
1803, and arrived on the 4th of September following. They sojourned 
ior a brief period at Pigeon Hills, near Conewaga, Pa., and probably 
in the month of June, 1805, left for Kentucky. Three years later 
they removed to a place, near St. Louis. A second colony, consist- 
ing of Father Vincent de Paul, superior of the house at Bordeaux, 
two other monks, and aTrappist nun, having, with the other members 
of their order, been expelled from France by Napoleon, arrived al 
Boston, on August 6th, 181 1. Flere they were joined by Dom Augus- 
tin, who had escaped from France where he was in danger of being 
shot, and had embarked at London. The Trappists were kindly re- 
ceived by Bishop Cheverus of Boston, who hospitably lodged them in 
his own house. Father Vincent, after travelling to several parts, set- 
tled with his brethren, probably, in St. Mary's Co., Maryland, on a 



THE TRAPPISTS. 



139 



tract of land selected by the Archbishop of Baltimore and the Sul- 
pitians. Here the Trappists began their agricultural labors, but dis- 
ease forced them to discontinue their work. They then retired to 
Baltimore, where the Abbe Moranville, pastor of St. Patrick's, showed 
them the most generous hospitality. 

Towards the close of 1813, Dom Augustin arrived at New York, and 
resolved to take up his abode near that city. He ordered Father Ur- 
ban and Father Vincent to join him, and all the American Trappists 
were ere long united in one community. Dom Augustin purchased 
for ten thousand dollars a large piece of property, and arranged the 
house to suit monastic requirements. Thirty-one poor children, almost 
all orphans, found with the Trappists instruction and the necessaries of 
life. Father Vincent was deputed to go every Sunday and holiday to 
the Ursuline Convent, at three or four miles distance, to say Mass and 
hear confessions. To the Trappists was also confided the direction 
of a college founded by the Jesuits in 1809. Their labors in the 
United States lasted until 18 14, when they returned to France. 
Among those who joined them in America was Louis Antoine Lang- 
lois Germain, born at Quebec, November 25, 1767, and ordained in 
1791. In 1806 he became a Trappist at Baltimore, and on Novem- 
ber 28th, 18 10, died in the odor of sanctity. 1 

When the monks embarked for Europe, Father Vincent de Paul 
was accidentally left on shore. He afterwards retired to Nova Scotia, 
where he founded the Trappist monastery at Petite Tracadie, which 
still exists. 

In 1848 Trappists from the abbey of Meilleraye in France found- 
ed the present abbey of Gethsemani, in Kentucky. The order has also 
a monastery at New Meillenvy, in the diocese of Dubuque, Iowa, where 
the Fathers attend to the spiritual wants of the faithful in the neigh- 
borhood. The Trappists possess also an establishment at Oka, on the 
Lake of the Two Mountains, near Montreal, Canada. 

In Ireland they have monasteries at Roscrea, and at Mount Mel- 
leray. 

Dom Augustin was the founder of a female branch of the order, 
which he established in 1786 at Bas Valais, in France, aided by his 
sister. Seeing that many nuns of various orders had been driven from 
their convents, he determined to gather them together in the resus- 
citated Cistercian order. One of the most illustrious acquisitions of 
Dom Augustin was the Princess Louise Adelaide de Conde, who took 
the name of Sister Mary Joseph. She was a granddaughter of Louis 

1 See " The French Refugee Trappists in the United States," a paper read before the American 
Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia by Lawrence Francis Flick, — 1886. 



140 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



XV. When the monks came to the United States, several of the sis- 
ters also sought refuge in this country, and formed a community at 
New York. They returned to France in 1814. During their stay in 
the United States, they had received several novices, but as these did 
not wish to leave the country, they joined the Sisters of Charity 
through the influence of Rev. M. Moranville. To this number be- 
longed Sister Mary Joseph Llewellyn and Sister Scholastica Bean of 
Emmetsburg. 1 The Trappist nuns follow, for the greater part, the 
rule of the monks. There exists also a Third Order of La Trappe, in 
which the religious devote themselves to the education of youth. 
The community of Trappist nuns at Tracadie, Nova Scotia, belongs 
to this Third Order. 

Speaking of the Trappist mode of life, Father Muard, the founder 
of the congregation of Pierre qui Vire, who had made his novitiate 
with them, says : " The most difficult point, though the least suspected 
in the world, is that continual death to self, that continual immolation 
of self-will, that obedience the most absolute it is possible to imagine — 
an obedience which not only regulates every act, but also the manner 
of performing it in minutest detail, in such a way that there is no in- 
stant in the life of a Trappist in which he can say : ' I do my own will.' 
There is here only one will — that of God, manifested by the voice 
of the superior. It is consequently a spectacle worthy of the admira- 
tion of angels to see the manner in which everything is done in the 
house. 

" Oh ! how lovely is the religious life when meditated upon at La 
Trappe." 

1 Catholic Church in the United States. — De Courcy. — Shea. 



A 




TRAPPIST MONK. 



A VISIT TO OKA. 



JOURNEY TO OKA. — THE VILLAGE. — THE MONASTERY. — FATHER AL- 
BAN. — TRAPPIST OBSERVANCES. 

IT was a beautiful morning in July. Nature was just recovering' 
from the effects of a recent storm, and the disturbed bosom of ven- 
erable Lake Champlain was regaining its wonted composure ; a day of 
more than tropical heat had been succeeded by a morning of Autum- 
nal coolness. During the night, the author, lost to conscious exist- 
ence, had been carried onward on the wings of steam through the States 
of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and he now reposed 
for a few moments in the old city of St. Albans, in the latter State. 
But in a little while the journey was resumed, and we flew onward, over 
the frontierinto Canada, past the River Richelieu, and finally halted at 
Montreal. We were late, and the boat which w T as to convey us to Oka 
had already departed. There was, however, a chance of catching up 
with it at the village of St. Anns. No time was to be lost, and, board- 
ing the Ottawa train, we were once more en route. About a half hour's 
steaming brought us to the picturesque little Canadian village of St. 
Anns. We may here remark that most of the villages around Mon- 
treal bear the names of saints. An old-fashioned country coach drove 
us to the steamer, and ere long we sat comfortably on the placid 
waters of the Ottawa River. There were a number of priests on board, 
attired in their cassocks. 

The scenery on the river banks was magnificent. After a little steam- 
ing we found ourselves on the Lake of the Two Mountains, a basin 
formed by the river. An old gentleman, a typical Englishman, intro- 
duced himself to us, and gave us much information concerning the 
country and the Trappist monastery, which we could now discern in 
the distance on the hills. 

The village of Oka was originally an Indian settlement, and it is still 
for a great part inhabited by remnants of the Algonquin and Iroquois 
tribes. Many of the latter have abandoned the Catholic faith for the 
Protestant religion. The Sulpitian Fathers have spiritual charge of the 
village and own extensive property in the neighborhood. The site on 
which the Trappist monastery stands, at a distance of three miles from 



142 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Oka, with the adjacent farm of about 1,000 acres, was a gift of the 
Sulpitians. The village church, a beautiful structure in classic style, 
overlooks the river from the banks. When the Trappists first arrived 
at the Lake of the Two Mountains, the country where their monastery 
now stands, was covered with a forest; but they have completely 
changed its aspect, and it presents to-day the appearance of a thriving 
agricultural colony. 

A Trappist lay-brother, whom we met on the steamer, offered us r 
on landing, a place in the carriage of the monastery, an offer of which 
we thankfully availed ourselves. Seated beside this modest son of St. 
Bernard, in his brown habit, we enjoyed immensely the drive through 
the open country. Passing the houses of the Redskins, the Algonquins r 
and their neighbors, the once fierce Iroquois, and leaving the village 
behind us, we drove on in the direction of the monastery. In the dis- 
tance lay the lake bathing the foot of the mountain, while cultivated 
fields smiled on either side of us. After a drive of nearly an hour we 
arrived in sight of the monastery, a modest wooden structure, which 
then served as temporal abode for the Cistercian monks, while a more 
spacious monastery was being built in the valley. A deep and sublime 
solitude reigned around us, and the very air seemed to inspire us with 
a feeling of the sacrednessof the place. Here, far from the world and 
its bustle, the sons of Citeaux pray and labor and pass to their crowns 
beyond the grave. One solitary novice was seen returning homeward 
from his labor, for the work of the morning was done. Having entered 
the house we werekindly received by the Guest-Master, Father Alban, 
an Englishman, who has spent more than forty years in the order. Af- 
ter a few momentsspent in conversation, he led us to the oratory where 
the monks were reciting Sext. 

Our sojourn at the monastery was brief, but while there we followed: 
the daily routine of the monks, and even obtained permission to eat in 
their refectory. A description of the daily life of a Cistercian monk 
will give the reader an insight into what we saw. 

The general hour for rising in a Trappist monastery is two in the 
morning, though on certain days the monks are called earlier, At 
the sound of the bell, the religious, who all sleep in their habits, arise 
immediately, and proceed to the church, where they recite the Office 
of the Blessed Virgin, spend a half hour in meditation, and sav Matins 
and Lauds in choir. After the Divine Office the priests say Mass, and 
a short interval of free time is then allowed. Next follows Prime, at 
the end of which all assemble in the chapter room, where a discourse 
is delivered by the abbot or one of the monks, and where, on certain 
days, the accusation of faults takes place. 



A VISIT TO OKA. 



H3 



After the recitation of. " Terce" the conventual Mass is sung, and 
the daily work begins. The entire community, not excepting the 
abbot, proceed to their respective labors in the field or elsewhere. 
At eleven o'clock the community again assembles for " Sexte." This 
is followed by dinner that consists entirely of vegetables, the prepara- 
tion of which is by no means calculated to tempt the appetite of an 
epicurean. After dinner the monks are allowed a siesta in Summer. 
Then follows work in the fields, and, at half-past four, Vespers are re- 
cited, after which follows a light collation. Before retiring, the monks 
recite ''Compline," and chant the " Salve Regina" 

The hours of the daily exercises vary according to the season of the 
year. In Lent the only meal of the day is taken at half-past four in 
the afternoon. It is needless to add that the life of a Trappist monk 
is one of perpetual silence. 

At present, as we have learned, the Trappists of Oka have exchanged 
their temporary dwelling for the monastery which, at the time of our 
visit, was being constructed. Since then we once met our hospitable 
guest-master, Father Alban, who was travelling for the affairs of his 
monastery. 

We had the pleasure on another occasion of meeting Trappist 
monks at their monastery on the Appian Way, outside of Rome, at 
the catacombs of St. Calixtus, of which they have charge. It was 
one of those pious sons of St. Bernard who guided us through the 
subterranean passages of the cemetery of the saints hallowed by the 
blood of martyrs. We knew hardly which to admire most, the mar- 
tyrs of the faith with whose memory the place is fraught, or those liv- 
ing martyrs of penance who give to our self-indulgent nineteenth 
century such admirable lessons of self-denial. 




ORDERS OF MONTE VERGINE, WILLIAM1TES, AND 
SYLVESTRINS. 



ST. WILLIAM.— DISSENSIONS IN THE NEW INSTITUTE. — GREAT AUSTER- 
ITY. — ST. WILLIAM OF MALEVAL. — SYLVESTRINS. — THEIR RULES. — 

I. 

MONTE VERGINE. 

THE founder of this order, St. William, was born in Piedmont 
about the beginning of the twelfth century. At the age of fifteen 
he determined to abandon all things for the love of God, and cloth- 
ing himself in the habit o,f a hermit, set out barefooted on a pilgrim- 
age to St. James in Galicia, one of the famous shrines of the Middle 
Ages. Having returned to his country, St. William retired into sol- 
itude, which at that particular epoch seemed to possess a peculiar 
charm for God-fearing souls. It is remarkable that most of the or- 
ders founded at this time were institutions where solitude was one of 
the predominant features, as we have seen in those of Camaldoli and 
Vallombreuse, and we shall see in that of the Carthusians. St. 
William established himself in a place called Mount Virgil, as it was 
supposed that the poet of that name had sojourned there ; but, after 
the saint had built a church in honor of our Lady, the name was changed 
into that of Mount Virgin, or Monte Vergine. It was situated be- 
tween Nola and Benevento, in the kingdom of Naples. Among the 
many persons whom the sanctity of St. William attracted to this spot 
were several secular priests, who, touched by his exhortations, be- 
sought him to allow them to dwell with him. He granted their re- 
quest, had cells built for them, and thus laid the foundation of the Or- 
der of Monte Vergine in 1119, during the pontificate of Calixtus II. 

In the beginning these hermits lived entirely on alms, and led a very 
austere life of prayer and contemplation, united to manual labor. 
After some time, however, the priests complained of being obliged 
to perform works so menial, and forced the saint to build a church 
where they might say Mass and assist at the Divine Office. Calix- 
tus II. then approved of this congregation, and granted many indul- 
gences to those who would visit Monte Vergine. By this time the 



MONTE VERGINE, WILLI A MITES, AND SYL VESTRINS. 145 



number of religious had greatly increased. Another source of com- 
plaint against the Holy Founder arose from the fact that he distrib- 
uted all the superfluous gifts which were brought to him as alms to the 
poor. The religious also complained that the rules he gave them were too 
severe. Being unable to satisfy them without introducing relaxation, 
he appointed Blessed Albert to succeed him, and left Monte Vergine 
in company with five religious. Blessed Albert calmed the agitation 
which had arisen. Saint William founded other monasteries, both for 
men and women, where the most austere observances prevailed. 
During his lifetime he beheld his order increase with great rapidity 
in the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. He died at the monastery of 
Gulieto, on June 25, 1142. Blessed Albert became the second general 
of the order, and he was succeeded by Blessed Robert, who some- 
what mitigated the great austerities which had been practised, and, 
by the authority of Pope Alexander III., placed the order under 
the rule of St. Benedict. It continued to increase as long as the re- 
ligious lived together in peace and observed their rule faithfully. 
But when they grew relaxed, the spirit of discord was introduced 
among them, and the different monasteries separated, leaving the or- 
der without a head. In 1349, however, the abbot of Monte Vergine 
became general. In the early part of the fifteenth century this abbey 
came into the hands of commendatory abbots until 15 15, when it 
fell under the control of the hospital of the Annonciade at Naples. 
The deplorable state of affairs which then began to exist brought the 
order to the very brink of ruin. During the reign of Pius V., the re- 
ligious were again released from their connection with the afore-men- 
tioned hospital, and Clement VIII. succeeded in introducing a reform 
into the order. The habit of the religious of Monte Vergine is white. 

We may here, in passing, mention another branch of the Order of St. 
Benedict, that of Monte Pulsano, founded by St. John of Matera, a 
friend of St. William of Monte Vergine. This order exists no longer. 

II. 

WILLI AMITES AND SYLVESTRINS. 

The first of these orders was founded by St. William of Maleval, 
who died in 1 157, and who is supposed to have been a Frenchman. He 
established his order at Maleval, in the territory of Sienna. It spread 
throughout Italy, France, the Netherlands and Germany. Pope Greg- 
ory IX. gave to it the rule of St Benedict. It is also an order of 
hermits, and its members wear a habit similar to that of the monks of 
Citeaux. 

The Congregation of the Sylvestrins received its name from St» 



146 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



Sylvester Gozzolini, born in 1177 at Osmo, in the March of Ancona. 
Having- entered the priesthood, he incurred the displeasure of his 
bishop by representing respectfully to the latter the scandal he was 
giving his flock by the irregularity of his life. The sight of the corpse 
of one of his relations, who had been known as the handsomest man of 
his time, as it lay in a state of corruption, touched his heart and moved 
him to abandon the vanities of the world. He left the city in the year 
1227, at the age of forty, and took up his abode in a desert. Some 
time later he laid the foundations of his order and built a monastery 
at Monte Fano, in 123 1. He gave to his disciples the rule oi St. Ben- 
edict, which he caused them to observe in all its rigor, and he even ad- 
ded other austerities to it. The Order of St. Sylvester was approved by 
Pope Innocent IV. in 1247. The saint, after having founded other 
monasteries for monks and nuns, died on November 26, 1267, at the 
age of 90 years. His order, which had at 'first borne the name of Monte 
Fano, took that of Sylvestrins after his death, and continued for some 
time to make progress and to spread. Its generals were first elected 
for life, but a decree of Paul III., in 1543, made their office triennial. 
The order was united with that of Vallombrosa in 1662, but the union 
did not last. After their separation, the general of the Order of Syl- 
vestrins became eligible for four years. 

The monks of the order arise at night to recite Matins, bu.t the hour 
varies according to the season of the year. They hold a spiritual con- 
ference after Vespers, and spend an hour in mental prayer after Com- 
pline, before retiring to the dormitory. They hold chapter every clay, 
take the discipline t wice a week, and three times in Advent and Lent, and 
observe perpetual abstinence from meat. The abbot-general, after his 
election, is obliged to swear that he will have the constitutions ob- 
served, and not dispense from them except in cases of extreme neces- 
sity. The habit of these monks is blue, and in form it resembles that of 
the Benedictines. Their general wears violet. The Order of St. Syl- 
vester has been rendered illustrious by the lives of several saintly per- 
sonages. 



THE ORDERS OF CELESTINIANS AND OF MONTE 

OLIVETO. 



ST. PETER CELESTINE. — HIS ELEVATION TO THE PAPACY. — HIS RESIG- 
NATION—PROPAGATION OF HIS ORDER.— MONTE OLIVETO. 



HE founder of this congregation, which belongs to the Order of Saint 



Benedict, was born in the kingdom of Naples, about the year 121 5. 
His name was Peter. Having first led the life of a hermit, he received 
Holy Orders at Rome, and again retired into solitude. About the year 
1254 he formed a community with a few disciples who had joined him. 
Ten years later his order was approved by Pope Urban IV., who in- 
corporated it into that of St. Benedict, as Lelio Marini relates in his 
life of the holy founder. Gregory X. exempted it from the jurisdic- 
tion of the bishops. In 1286 the saint resigned his office of superior 
in order to enjoy greater solitude, but, a few years later, in 1294, he 
was elected Sovereign Pontiff on account of his great sanctity, and was 
forced, against his inclinations, to accept the dignity of head of the 
Church. He took the name of CelestineV., from which name his re- 
ligious have borne that of Celestinians. He remained only five months 
and a few days on the pontifical throne, for in the same year he sol- 
emnly resigned his dignity. The saint was badly treated by his suc- 
cessor, Pope Boniface, who had him imprisoned in the citadel of Fum- 
mone. He bore this last trial with the greatest resignation, and died 
on May 19, 1296. 

After his death, his order increased rapidly in Italy and in France. 
The constitutions of the Celestinians prescribe austeiities which, to a 
great extent, resemble those of the Trappists. Their habit is white, 
with a black scapular and hood. The lav-brothers are clad in brown. 
Since the French Revolution, which suppressed it in France, the or- 
der has greatly decreased. It must nor be confounded with that of 
the Celestinian hermits of the Order of St. Francis, which was author- 
ized by Sr. Celestine V., and named after him, but which long since 
has ceased to exist. 



I. 



CELESTINIANS. 




147 



r 



148 HI ST OR Y OF RELIQIO US 0 RDERS. 

II. 

MONTE OLIVETO. 

In the beginning of the fourteenth century there lived at Sienna, in 
Italy, a gentleman called John Tolomei, a professor of philosophy. 
Touched by the grace of God, he abandoned the world and retired 
into solitude with two companions, Ambrose Piccolomini and Patricio 
Patrici, both senators of Sienna. They took up their abode in a place 
called Acona, belonging to Tolomei, situated at a distance of about 
fifteen miles from Sienna. It was a spot full of hills and precipices, 
yet charming in its solitude. The renown of the virtue and the aus- 
terity of the life of these saintly men soon attracted other disciples. 
Pope John XXII. having examined into their manner of living, ordered 
the Bishop of Arezzo to give them one of the rules approved by the 
Church. The Bishop, after invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
went himself, in 1319^0 the valley of Acona, gave white habits to Tolo- 
mei and his companions, ordered them to follow the rule of Saint Bene- 
dict, and placed their congregation underthe protection of the Blessed 
Virgin. 

The vallev of Acona he called Mount Olivet, whence the order has 
come to be designated as that of Monte Oliveto. Tolomei now changed 
his baptismal name of John for that of Bernard. The religious chose 
their founder for their first superior, but he, refusing this office out of 
humility, their choice fell on Patricio Patrici, who, the following year, 
1320, was succeeded by Ambrose Piccolomini. In 1321 Simon of 
Thure was elected, and after his year of office, blessed Bernard Tolo- 
mei yielded to the desires of his brethren, and accepted the charge 
which he afterward retained for twenty-seven years, constantly, how- 
ever, renewing his instances to be released from it. In the beginning 
these religious were exceedingly fervent, and their austerities, which 
went beyond what is prescribed by the rule of St. Benedict, were so 
great, that they all fell sick, and they were obliged to moderate their 
rigor. 

Bernard Tolomei founded monasteries at Sienna, Arezzo, Florence, 
Camprena, Volterra, and other places. The order was again approved 
by John XXII., in 1324, and later confirmed by other sovereign pontiffs. 
The religious of Mount Oliveto proved to the world that they were 
not only fit for contemplation, but that when charity called, they could 
leave the mountain of prayer and descend to the plain of activity, for 
when in 1348 the pestilence raged in Italy, they exposed their lives in 
assisting those who had been stricken down. Several of these religious 



CELEST1NIAN8 AND OF MONTE 0L1 VETO. 



L49 



fell victims to their charity, and among them was the saintly founder 
himself, who died of the disease at Sienna, on August 20, 1348. 

After the death of the founder, the order continued to enjoy the es- 
teem of the Church, and several of its religious were at different times 
chosen to reform other monasteries. Gregory XL exempted it from 
the jurisdiction of the bishops. Julius TI. and Pius II. allowed relig- 
ious of other orders except Carthusians, to pass over to that of Monte 
Oliveto. In course of time, the original practices of the monks under- 
went mitigations, and they were allowed, among other things, to eat 
meat on certain days of the week. The order has been rendered illus- 
trious by the saintly lives of several of its members, and the high eccle- 
siastical dignities conferred upon others. A female branch of the 
order was also instituted, but it is uncertain at what precise epoch. 
The Order of Monte Oliveto still exists in Italy. 



THE ORDER OF GRANDMONT. 



RULE OF THE ORDER.— DISCORD. — MONASTIC HOSPITALITY.— RELAX- 
TION AND REFORMATION. 

IT has been a disputed question whether the order which bears this 
name belongs to the monks or to the regular canons, whether it 
was a branch of the Order of St. Benedict, or of that of St. Augustine. 
Father Jean Leveque, religious of the order, having been of the opin- 
ion that it was under the rule of the latter saint, finally retracted, and 
came to the conclusion that it was a particular order which, from 
eremitical, had become cenobitical, and finally mixed. The founder, 
St. Stephen, being asked by a cardinal whether he was a canon, a monk, 
or a hermit, replied : " We are none of these ; we are sinners whom the 
mercy of God hath conducted into this wilderness to do penance." 

Its founder was St. Stephen, born in 1046 at Thiers in Auvergne. 
After a youth spent in piety, he was ordained deacon by the Arch- 
bishop of Benevento. A few years later he retired into a solitude 
near Limoges, where he led a most austere life, and where a few dis- 
ciples placed themselves under iris guidance. He died on February 
55th, 1 124. After his death his disciples moved to a desert one league 
distant, called Grandmont, whence the order took its name. 

It was not until after the year 1 141 that the order possessed a writ- 
ten rule, compiled by the general, Stephen cle Lisiac, from the words and 
deeds of the holy founder. During the government of this general 
the order spread rapidly, so that in less than three }^ears more than 
sixty houses were founded. These became subject to the house of 
Grandmont, and obtained the name of cells. 

The rule was confirmed in 11 88 by Pope Clement 111., having been 
approved by Adrian IV. and other popes. Clement III. also canon- 
ized the founder, St. Stephen, in 1 189. This rule was at various inter- 
vals modified by several Sovereign Pontiffs. 

Trouble was introduced into the order by dissensions, which arose 
between the clerics and the lay-brothers, the latter being in the major- 
ity. We also infer that it must have grown relaxed from the fact that 
about the year 1228, under the generalship of Elias Arnaudi, Pope 

150 



THE ORDER OF GRANDMONT. 



151 



Gregory IX. decreed that during three consecutive years two relig- 
ious of the Order of Carthusians, and two of that of Citeaux should be 
present at the general chapters to be held at Grandmont, and introduce 
whatever reform they thought proper, without there being any appeal 
from their decision. The prior was denounced to the Pope by his re- 
ligious, and the apostolic commissaries, having found him guilty, de- 
posed him. He then went to Rome, but fell under excommunication 
for having done so without the permission of the Sovereign Pontiff. In- 
ternal dissensions continued for a long time to agitate the order, into 
which 'at various epochs reformations were introduced. In 1643 more 
than a hundred and thirty years had elapsed since a general chapter 
had been held ; but in that yearone was convened under George Barry, 
abbot of Grandmont. In the beginning of the order, the use of rlesh- 
meat-was strictly forbidden, even to the sick, and the religious fasted 
from the Feast ol the Exaltation of the Holy Cross until Easter. They 
observed a silence as rigorous as that of the Carthusians. Seculars 
were received outside of the enclosure, into which they were seldom 
admitted. Monastic hospitality was, however, practised to such an 
extent that an entire house was built for the reception of strangers. 
Hospitality has always been one of the most characteristic of monas- 
tic virtues, and its decline, in our opinion, can belong only to a period 
of decadence in a religious order, for it would indicate an increase of 
that selfishness which is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the re- 
ligious lite. 

This original austerity of the Order of Grandmont had in course of 
time been greatly diminished by certain mitigations conceded by the 
Sovereign Pontiffs. Thus in the general chapter of 1643 the statutes 
show that the rules of fasting and abstinence had been considerably 
lightened. The habit of the religious of Grandmont, since the time of 
Pope Clement V., consisted of a black cassock, with scapular and hood. 
In the choir they wore a surplice and abiretta. The Order of Grand- 
mont in neither of its branches existed outside of France, and ceased to 
be at the period of the Revolution. 1 

II. 

REFORMED RELIGIOUS OF GRANDMONT. 

This reform was effected by Dora Charles Fremont, religious of 
Grandmont, born in 1610. Although the order was greatly relaxed, 
he nevertheless observed the primitive rule. Having, in 1635, become 
prior of the abbey of Grandmont, he began his reform, in 1642, under 

1 Bertouch. Geistliche Genossenschaften. 



152 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the protection of Cardinal de Richelieu in the priory of Epoisse near 
Dijon. Like every work of God, this reform had to pass through the 
crucible of persecution, which arose principally from the side of the 
religious of the order. Nevertheless it prospered and obtained several 
houses, but, after the death in 1689, of the holy man to whom it owed 
its origin, it continued stationary. Its members were subject to the 
general of the order, and did not form an independent body. 



THE CARTHUSIANS. 



THE GRAND CHARTREUSE.— FIRST CONSTITUTIONS. — DIVISION OFTHE OR- 
DER. — RE-UNION— LIFE OF THE CARTHUSIAN.— CHARTER-HOUSES IN 
ENGLAND. — CARTHUSIAN NUNS. 

THE foundation of this wonderful order was laid in the year 1086 
by Saint Bruno, born at Cologne, a little after the middle of the elev- 
enth century. Having studied theology, the Holy Fathers, and eccle- 
siastical law, he was appointed canon of the church of St. Cunibert, in 
his native city, by St. Aimon, his bishop. After the death "of the latter, 
he became canon of the church of Rheims. However, disgusted with 
the world by serious meditations on the false pleasures of life, he re- 
nounced his benefice, and determined to spend his davs in solitude. 
He persuaded six of his friends to accompany him : these were Land- 
win, Stephen of Bourg, Stephen of Die, a priest named Hugo, sur- 
named the chaplain, he being the only priest among them, and too lay- 
men, Andrew and Guerin. They presented themselves to Saint Hugo, 
Bishop of Grenoble, who received them kindly, and assigned to them 
as their abode the desert of Chartreuse, to which he himself conducted 
them. Bruno and his companions immediately built an oratory and 
cells on the plan of the ancient lauras of Palestine. They lodged at 
first by twos, as they believed this to have been the custom of 
the ancient solitaries of Egypt, bound themselves to perpetual silence 
and led lives of prayer and manual labor. Their favorite occupation 
was the copying of books, by which they endeavored to gain a liveli- 
hood. 

Saint Bruno himself, however, was not long to enjoy the sweets of 
contemplation, for Pope Urban II. summoned him to Rome less than 
six years after he had established himself with his disciples in the 
desert of Chartreuse. Having received the blessing of Saint Hugo, he 
set out for Rome in company with his disciples, who would not be sep- 
arated from him, leaving his hermitages in care of Seguin, abbot of the 
monastery of Chaise-Dieu. The Pope received him with marks of 
sincere esteem and affection, and retained him neai;his own person while 
his companions obtained a dwelling in the city, where they continued 
to practise the same exercises they had followed in the desert of Char- 

153 



154 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



treuse. However, Rome with its noise and bustle could never take 
the place of the silent desert they had left, where the most profound 
tranquillity prevailed. No wonder that their heart returned longingly 
to it, and that the six servants of God who had come to Italy with St. 
Bruno did not remain there, but again sought the wild mountains where 
their hermitages stood. But to Bruno himself, this consolation was 
not awarded, as he could not obtain permission to leave Rome. He 
appointed Land win prior of Chartreuse, and wrote to the abbot of 
Chaise-Dieu in favor of his companions, to whom the abbot, in virtue of 
a papal brief } surrendered their former dwelling. They took possession 
of the premises in presence of Saint Hugo, Bishop of Grenoble, and 
of Hugo, Archbishop of Lyons, and legate of the Holy See. 

Saint Bruno kept up a loving correspondence with his disciples, and 
sent them many salutary instructions. The world, however, did not 
fail to lay siege to them in their solitude, and used the same argument 
it employs to-day. They were told that they were not guided by the 
spirit of God, that it was temerity to leave the beaten tracks of the 
religious life and endeavor to surpass the forces of nature, thus ruining 
their health. With the grace of the .Holy Spirit they conquered this 
temptation, and persevered in the state of life they had chosen. 

Finally, Saint Bruno was enabled to leave Rome. He would have re- 
turned to Chartreuse, but, fearing lest the Pope, who was himself going 
to France, would again engage him in outward affairs, he resolved to 
seek a solitude in Calabria. Followed by a few disciples who had joined 
him at Rome, he settled in the desert of Torre, and there began, with 
renewed fervor, the exercises of a solitary life. Roger, Count of Sicily 
and Calabria, discovering his retreat, built for him a church, which was 
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. Stephen. Saint Bruno died 
October 6th, iioi, having, in the presence of his religious, first made 
a public profession of faith in the mysteries ol our holy religion, es- 
pecially in that of the Blessed Eucharist, which, during his time, had 
been attacked by Berengarius, the predecessor of certain so-called re- 
formers who were to live several centuries later. 

After the death of the saint, the monastery of Torre declined, and 
in course of time fell into such relaxation that it was given to the Order 
of Citeaux, and afterwards to that of Flora. In 151 3, however, Leo X. 
restored it to the Carthusians, as it was the resting-place of the relics 
of their founder. Strange to say, Saint Bruno was not canonized un- 
til 1 5 14, when Leo X. placed him among the saints. 

In the beginning, the Carthusian order made but little progress, for 
in 1 1 37 it possessed only three monasteries, besides that of the Grande 
Chartreuse. The prior of that monastery was, even during the life- 



THE OA R TH USIA 29 S. 



155 



time of St. Bruno, and he has always remained general of the order. 
Land win, the first prior after St. Bruno, was succeeded by Peter le Franc, 
John I., and Blessed Guigo. The last named may be called the second 
founder, for he gave to the order its first constitutions, which were 
written about forty-four years after its establishment, and to which 
was given the name of Custom of the Grande Chartreuse. Blessed Guigo 
was succeeded by Hugo L, who having resigned in order to apply him- 
self more freely to contemplation, was followed by baint Anthelm, who 
introduced into the order the practice of holding general chapters, 
and who afterwards became Bishop of Belley. He was succeeded, in 
1 15 1, by Dom Basil, who added several points to the constitutions of 
Blessed Guigo. 

A century later Dom Bernard de la Tour, general of the order, 
compiled all the decrees of the preceding general chapters, and formed 
what now bears the name of the Ancient Statutes. The order at that time 
possessed fifty-six houses. Dom William Rainaldi, prior of the Grande 
Chartreuse, who refused the dignity of Cardinal, offered to him by 
Urban V., made new statutes in 1368. 

In 1378, the Carthusian order felt the effects of the great Schism of 
the West, for it became divided into two parts, of which one recognized 
Clement VII. and the other Urban VI. as the lawful Pope. The lat- 
ter, which consisted of the Italians and Germans, were governed by 
Dom John de Barri, who took up his abode at Florence. Union was, 
however, re-established at the accession of Alexander V. to the pon- 
tifical throne. Both the generals resigned their office, and Dom John 
de Griffomont was elected to preside over the entire order. 

A third compilation of statutes was made by Dom Francis du Puy, 
who died in 1495, and another, in 1566, by Dom Bernard Carrasse. 

In the Order of St. Bruno, contrary to what we find in many others, 
the rule, instead of becoming more mitigated, rather increased in sever- 
ity. Thus, for instance, the Office became longer, vigils were rendered 
more austere, and silence grew more exact. This order has formed a 
glorious exception in the Church, and never needed a reformer nor a 
reformation ; it is to-day as fervent as when its holy founder died. 

The Carthusian monk arises before midnight and repairs to the choir 
to sing Matins with his brethren. After Matins, which are very lengthy, 
he again retires to rest until morning, when the priests celebrate Mass. 
The life of the Carthusian is one of great solitude, and is mostly spent 
in his cell. Each monk has a suite of apartments, consisting of a bed- 
room, study, dining-room, and loft. To each one is also allotted a small 
garden. The cells are built around the large cloister, and the monks 
leave them only three times a day on ordinary days to assist at Matins, 



156 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



the Conventual Mass, and Vespers. Their meals are passed to them 
through an opening in their apartments. At least once a week they 
are obliged to fast on bread and water. Under no circumstances are 
they ever allowed to eat meat, and they fast from the Feast of the Ex- 
altation of the Hoi)- Cross until Easter. In the intervals between their 
spiritual exercises, their time is spent in study or manual labor. On 
feast days they recite all the canonical hours in choir, and take their 
meals together in the common refectory. On certain special da} 7 s they 
are allowed to converse, and they take a walk, once a week, within the 
limits of the monastic grounds. 

At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in England, there 
were nine charter-houses in that country. Amongst all the clergy, 
the Carthusiaus distinguished themselves in refusing to take the oath 
of supremacy, and several of them forfeited their lives in consequence. 

The French Revolution suppressed them in France, but the Order 
was again revived after the restoration. The Grande Chartreuse, 
where St. Bruno first laid the foundations of the order, is still the 
mother-house. There is also a Carthusian monastery in England, 
among the hills of Sussex. 

The fabrication of the liqueur known as Chartreuse is a great source 
of revenue and means of support for the monks, but the surplus of 
their income is distributed in charitable works. The habit of the Car- 
thusians is white, but a black mantle is worn when they leave the mon- 
astery. Out of the spirit of penance they constantly wear a hair-shirt. 

This order has given to the Church several distinguished men, among 
whom Saint Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, and the celebrated Dennis Rik- 
kel, surnamed the Carthusian, besides several holy bishops and car- 
dinals. The monastery in which Dennis the Carthusian lived, at Roer- 
mond in Dutch Limburg, is now the grand seminary of the diocese. 
We had the pleasure of several times visiting its spacious cloisters. 
The head of the celebrated monk is preserved in the Cathedral of 
Roermond. 

There exists also a female branch of the Carthusian order, the first 
monastery of which, says Helyot, was probably founded by Guigo, 
the fifth general. The customs of the nuns are the same as those of the 
monks, except that the former take their meals in common. They have 
preserved the ancient custom of the consecration of virgins, which cere- 
mony is always performed by the bishop, who invests the candidate 
with the stole, maniple, and black veil. They attach the maniple to the 
right arm, and wear it, together with the stole, on the day of their con- 
secration and when they celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their pro- 
fession. They are also buried with these ornaments. The nuns are 



THE CA R TH USIA NS. 



157 



never allowed to speak to seculars, not even their nearest relatives, 
except with the face covered by a veil, and in presence of one or two 
religious of the community. 

At the period of the French Revolution there were but four monas- 
teries of Carthusian nuns, and these were swept away by the storm that 
burst so violently over France. In 1820 a few surviving- female mem- 
bers of the order again re-assembled and established themselves in the 
diocese of Grenoble, about five leagues from the Grande Chartreuse, 
in the chateau of Beauregard. 



THE CARTHUSIANS AND HENRY VIII. 



LONDON CHARTER-HOUSE. — ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. — IMPRISONMENT. — 
MARTYRDOM OF BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON.— LONG TRIALS. — FALL. — 
CONSTANCY. — MARTYRDOM. 

IN the early part of the sixteenth century, when all England was in 
commotion on account of the religious revolution which was tak- 
ing place under the leadership of King Henry VIII., the sons of St. 
Bruno, assuming no active part in the affairs of the kingdom, contin- 
ued in their exercises of contemplation and prayer, when the storm 
burst upon them. The charter-house of the "Salutation of the' Most 
Blessed Mother of God'! in London was a subject of great edification. 
Twenty of the community were not yet thirty-eight years of age. Its 
superior was Blessed John Houghton, and he had served God twenty 
years in the cloister. 

In April, 1534, the convent was visited by Lee and Bedyll, the com- 
missioners appointed by the king 1 . Neither the prior nor his brethren 
would say aught in favor of the divorce of Henry from Katherine of 
Arragon. The result was that the prior and Humphry Middlemore, 
the procurator of the convent, were committed to the tower. They re- 
mained there a month, suffering from the dirt and pestilential atmos- 
phere of the 'dungeon, and from want of food. After this time they 
agreed to comply with the king's desires in so far as the question of 
the succession was concerned, and they were permitted to return to 
their monastery. The brethren, being intimidated, took the oath re- 
quired of them, with the clause " so far as it was lawful." However, 
this availed not to save them. Henry, advancing step by step in his 
rupture with Rome, had assumed the title of " Supreme Head of the 
Church." To this the Carthusians and the rest of the faithful could 
not submit. The prior, foreseeing what was coming, said to his breth- 
ren: " Very sorry am I, and my heart is heavy, especially for you, my 
younger friends, of whom I see so many round me. Here you are liv- 
ing in your innocence. The yoke will not be laid upon your necks, 
nor the rod of persecution. But if you are taken hence, and mingle 
among the Gentiles, you may learn the works of them, and, having be- 
gun in the spirit, you may be consumed in the flesh. And there may 

158 



THE CARTHUSIANS AND HENRY Vlll. 



159 



be others amongst us whose hearts are still infirm. If these mix again 
with the world, 1 fear how it may be with them ; and what shall I say, 
and what shall I do, if I cannot save those whom God has trusted to 
my charge?" 

They all, bursting into tears, cried out : " Let us die together in our 
integrity, and heaven and earth shall witness for us how unjustly we 
are cut off." The prior, bidding his religious prepare for the worst, 
allowed each one to choose his confessor, and gave them power to 
absolve each other. Kneeling before each of the brethren, he begged 
his forgiveness for any offence he might have committed against 
him. 

Maurice Chauncy, then a member of the community, relates that 
when the Mass of the Holy Ghost was being celebrated, at the mo- 
ment of the elevation, " there came, as it were, a whisper of air, which 
breathed upon our faces as we knelt. Some perceived it with the 
bodily senses ; all felt it as it. thrilled into their hearts. And then fol- 
lowed a sweet, soft sound of music, at which our venerable Father 
was so moved, God being thus abundantly manifested among us, 
that he sank clown in tears, and, for a long time, could not continue 
the service, we all remaining stupefied, hearing the melody, and feel- 
ing the marvellous effects of it upon our spirit, but knowing neither 
whence it came nor whither it went ; only our hearts rejoiced as we 
perceived that God was with us indeed." 

This Maurice Chauncy had not the happiness of dying with his 
brethren; in a moment of weakness he succumbed, but afterwards 
seriously repented of his infidelity. To him we are indebted for the 
account of the trials of the Carthusians in their monastery. 

At this time, Robert Laurence, prior of the Charterhouse of Beau- 
vale in Nottinghamshire, and Augustine Webster, prior of Archolme in 
Lincolnshire, came to consult with their brethren of the London house. 
They agreed to anticipate the coming of the royal commissioners and 
visit Cromwell, to obtain, if possible, a mitigation of the king's de- 
mands. The wretch refused to listen to them and had them at once 
imprisoned in the tower. On April 20th, 1535, Webster and Lau- 
rence were examined, and both refused to take the oath. On the 28th 
of the same month, all three, together with Father Reynolds, a Brig- 
ittine, were indicted before the jury on the charge that they had de- 
clared "that the king, our sovereign lord, is not supreme head on 
earth of the Church of England/' The jury could not agree, but 
finally condemned the monks, being intimidated by Cromwell. 

The three priors, Houghton, Webster, and Laurence, together with 
the Brigittine Reynolds, and John Hale, vicar of Isle worth, were ex- 



160 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ecuted at Tyborne on May 4th. For what? Because they had the 
courage not to yield to the depraved will of the royal pig called 
Henry VIII.; because they believed, as millions had done before them; 
because they preferred to die rather than sacrifice their conscience. 

The religious were drawn to the place of execution in their habits. 
To each, as he mounted the scaffold, a pardon was offered if he would 
obey the king and parliament. Each in turn rejected the offer. 
Chapuys, the ambassador of the emperor Charles V., wrote to his mas- 
ter the day after the execution : " It is altogether a new thing, that 
the dukes of Richmond and Norfolk, the earl of Wiltshire, his son, and 
other lords and courtiers were present , at the said execution, quite 
near the sufferers. People say that the king himself would have liked 
to see the butchery, which is very probable, seeing that nearly all the 
court, even those of the privy chamber, were there, his principal 
Chamberlain, Norres, bringing with him forty horses, and it is thought 
that he (the king) was of the number of five who went thither accou- 
tred and mounted like borderers, who were armed secretly, with vizors 
before their faces, of which that of the duke of Norfolk's brother got 
detached, which has caused a great stir, together with the fact that 
while the five thus habited were speaking, all those of the court dis- 
lodged." However, some days later, the same Chapuys wrote that 
the king was not present at the execution. 

As Houghton mounted the scaffold, he spoke briefly to the people, 
calling God to witness that he died, not through a rebellious spirit, but 
because he feared to offend God. The martyrs were put to death in 
the most cruel manner. It is said that whilst still living, thej^ wqre 
ripped up in each other's presence, their limbs torn off, and their hearts 
cut out. 

On June 19th, three other Fathers of the Charterhouse of London, 
Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew, and Sebastian Newdigate, 
suffered death at Tyborne for the same cause, having endured in- 
credible tortures while in prison. 

For two years more, all means were tried to move the rest of the 
Carthusians who were left in their monastery, which was, for them, 
turned into a prison, and where they were made to undergo great 
hardships. 

On May 4th, 1536, four of the brethren were sent to the North of 
England and placed in houses which were known to be true to the 
king, and eight were transferred to the Brigittine Convent of Sion, 
which was then governed by a prior of the king's party. 

The pressure brought to bear upon these suffering Carthusians had 
been immense, and finally, several succumbed. On May 18th, 1537, 



THE CARTHUSIANS AND HENRY VI II. 



161 



the prior, William Trafford, who had succeeded Houghton, and twenty 
of the monks took the oath. Ten obstinately refused. These were 
removed to Newgate. They were three priests, Richard Bere, 
Thomas Johnson, and John Green; one deacon, John Davy;and six lay- 
brothers, William Greenwood, Thomas Scryven, Robert Salt, Wal- 
ter Peerson, Thomas Reding, and William Home. Their treatment 
in prison was most cruel. They were tied so that they were unable 
to stir. A pious lady, Margaret Clement, disguised as a milkmaid, 
managed to obtain access to them, and for some days she fed them, 
putting meat into their mouths. The king, finding that they were not 
yet starved to death, commanded a stricter watch to be set on them. 
Even then she succeeded in continuing her charitable work by 
letting meat down in a basket through the ceiling, and approaching it 
as much as possible to their mouths. All of these heroic men died in 
prison of their privations, except William Horne, who was hung at 
Ty borne on August 4th, 1540. 

Two of the Fathers who had been sent to the North of England died 
the martyr's death. The unfaithful monks who had taken the oath 
surrendered their monastery to the king. 

These twenty, who had taken the oath and signed away their monas- 
tery, remained in it until 1539, when they were forcibly expelled. 
Thus ended the London Charterhouse. 1 



1 Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries.— Gasquet, Vol. I Chapt vi. 



A VISIT TO THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY OF 

BURGOS. 



BURGOS. — MONASTERY OF MIRAFLORES.— ITS HISTORY.— PRESENT 

CONDITION. 

"31 I ANY years since we had visited an ancient Carthusian monastery 
VI m * ne city of Roermond.in Holland, where the celebrated Denis 
the Carthusian had lived. Long since it passed from the hands of the 
monks and it is now the diocesan seminary. Still it bears the impress 
of a Carthusian house, with its bare cloisters, though the cells of the 
monks no longer exist. We had often wished to see a monastery still 
occupied by the sons of St. Bruno, and had determined on ascending the 
mountain of the Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble, but time and op- 
portunity were not granted, However; though we were unable to 
.see the mother-house of the order established by the holy founder 
himself, we were consoled for this privation by a visit to the Car- 
thusian monastery of Burgos. Of all the cities of Spain, Burgos is 
one of the most interesting on account of its strongly mediaeval char- 
acter. Built on the banks of the Arlanzon, it contains a population 
of thirty-eight thousand souls. Well-shaded and pleasant walks are 
laid out everywhere along the banks of the river, which, like so many 
Spanish rivers, is nearly dry in the summer months. Its celebrated 
Gothic cathedral is one of the finest in Spain, and it was founded by 
Ferdinand the saint, in 1221. Burgos, once the capital of Castile and 
Leon, was the residence of St. Ferdinand, of Alonzo the Wise, and the 
home of the Cid, whose grave is still seen in the town hall of the city. 

Crossing the Arlanzon, and following in an easterly direction the 
wide avenue called La Isla, which leads West to the noble monastery 
of Las Huelgas, and passing the convents of the Trinitarian, Augus- 
tinian, and Discalced Carmelite nuns, the last of which was founded 
by St. Teresa herself, we reached the ancient Carthusian monastery 
of Miraflores, situated at a distance of two miles and a half from the 
city. It is surrounded by high walls, and a large gate gives entrance 
to the church within, the enclosure. No woman is allowed to enter 
the church of a Carthusian monastery, but, by special dispensation of 
the Pope, an exception is made at certain hours of the day for that of 

162 



CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY OF BURGOS. 



163 



the monastery of Miraflores. It was founded in 1441 by King John 
II., to comply with the wishes of his father, Enrique III., who, in his 
testament, had expressed the wish of having- a monastery erected. 
The design was encouraged by Don Alonso de Cartagena, bishop of 
Burgos, and Don Alonso de Madrigal, known as Tostato, bishop of 
Avila. The king ceded for this purpose his palaces of Mira Flores, 
called thus from their facing the castle of Flores. The estate was 
granted in 1442 to the Carthusian order, and the church was finished 
in 1467 by Isabel the Catholic. In spite of political agitations and the 
revolutions to which the Iberian Peninsula has been subject, the mon- 
astery of Miraflores is to-day in possession of its first owners, though 
so many other monasteries have passed away from the order. 

The church, like those of other Carthusian monasteries, is divided into 
three parts, the outer one for the people, the middle one for the lay- 
brothers, and the inner one for the choir religious. During the Divine 
Office there is a complete separation between these three portions. 

The choir where the Office is recited is situated in the middle of the 
church, with stalls of late Gothic carving. Before the altar is the 
splendid tomb of the founder, Don Juan II., and his wife, Isabel of 
Portugal. It is one of the most elaborate specimens of rich and var- 
ied sculpture in Europe. Above the tomb are seen the recumbent 
effigies of the king and queen in their robes of state. 

The large cloister of the monaster) 7 was begun in 1454, and it con- 
tains twenty-four cells. We were admitted into the enclosure by a 
Spanish lav-brother. The hour of Vespers was approaching, and the 
monks were beginning to gather in the choir, some in the prime of 
manhood, others bent under the weight of years, but all apparently 
indifferent to the presence of the visitors from the outside world who, 
at the beginning of the Divine Office, were required to withdraw. 
Passing through the lofty and silent cloisters, w*e reached the 
door of the prior's cell, to whom the brother was about to intro- 
duce us. The Vesper-bell had rung, the door oi the cell opened, and 
a stately religious, a man in the prime of life, walked out; it was the 
prior. Replying to our greeting in a hurried manner, and without 
waiting to converse with us, he hastened on to the choir to join his 
brethren in reciting the Divine Office. When the figures of the monks 
in their white robes had glided past us and disappeared within the 
sanctuary, and the echoes of their footsteps had ceased to vibrate be- 
neath the lofty ceilings of the cloisters, all was a^ain the silence of the 
tomb, interrupted only by our suppressed interchange of words 
with our monastic guide. We were allowed to inspect a suite of un- 
occupied apartments, which gave us an idea of the manner of living 



164 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of a Carthusian monk. The little dwelling consists of two stories of 
four or five rooms, a bedroom, study, and dining-room, with other apart- 
ments. An opening in the wall admits the repast of the monk. A garden 
is attached to every dwelling. The religious leaves his cells only to as- 
sist at the Divine Office, to take his meals once a week in the common 
refectory, and join in the weekly walk with his brethren. 

As we referred to the hardship of their life, the brother w T ho ac- 
companied us pointed upward as if he would say : " Our reward is 
there." Not lor anything in Spain, he said, would he exchange his 
condition, which he had voluntarily chosen, that of a simple lay-brother. 
These men are hidden to the world ; their very names are unknown, 
but the all-seeing eye of Him who one day will reward penetrates the 
hidden recesses of their cells, and beholds the virtues of which the 
world knows nothing, and which it hardly appreciates. Our compan- 
ion, a young Frenchman, we know not whether he was Catholic or 
Protestant, though we believe the latter, seemed to think it the 
height of folly and fanaticism that men should adopt such a life, and 
thus bury themselves alive. And, undoubtedly, this, at first sight, ap- 
pears true, when we consider matters from a mere human standpoint, 
but looking at them in the light of eternity, before which time fades 
into insignificance, the conduct of these monks is the highest wisdom. 
The world may laugh and scorn, but, let us remember, that he who 
laughs last, laughs best. 




PART III. 



REGULAR CANONS. 



General History of Regular Canons. 



THE TITLE OE CANON. — COMMUNITY LIFE OF THE CLERGY. — RULE OF 
AMALARIUS. — ST. PETER DAMIAN. — RULE OF ST. AUGUSTIN. — THE 
HABIT. 

THE name of canon had, in a remote antiquity, been given by 
the Greeks to ecclesiastics, monks, and virgins. It may have 
originated from their observance of the canons of the councils, or from 
their names being inscribed in the canons or catalogues of communi- 
ties, or, according to others, from the word canon, which meant the 
measure of the necessaries of life that was dealt out to each one. In 
the beginning of the Christian era, the clergy did not live in common. 
According to Father Thomassinus, the introduction of a community 
life among clerics is due to St. Augustin, the great Bishop of Hippo 
in Africa, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries. The saint did 
not, however, give to his clergy any particular rule, but placed before 
them the example of the apostles, The conduct of Saint Augustin 
was imitated by most of the prelates, and thus was introduced into 
the Church the community life of the clergy. 

In the ninth century, Louis the Debonnaire, successor of Charle- 
magne, who devoted much of his attention to the reformation of the 
clergy, had a rule composed by the deacon Amalarius, and approved 
by the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 816. It was almost the same as 
the rule which had been prepared by St. Chrodegand, Bishop of Metz^ 
and which was taken from the canons, the works of the Fathers, and 
especially the rule of St. Benedict. 

In course of time, an almost universal relaxation of morals prevail- 
ing among the Canons, particularly in the West, Pope Nicholas II. as- 
sembled, in 1059, a t tne solicitation of St. Peter. Damian, a council at 
Rome, composed of one hundred and thirteen bishops, in which it was 
decreed that the clergy should dwell together and place in common 
whatever revenues should accrue to them from their ministry. This 

165 



166 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



step was taken to remedy the great evil of Simony which then pre- 
vailed. The Council of Aix-la-Chapelle had left to the Canons the use 
of their patrimony, but St. Peter Damian desired to see private prop- 
erty entirely banished from among them. The Council of Rome, 
however, seems to have contented itself with enacting the decree men- 
tioned, besides exhorting them to imitate the community-life of the 
Apostles, and to possess no private property. The same decrees were 
enacted by Alexander II., in another council, held in 1063. Two dis- 
courses of Saint Augustine were cited to authorize this method of life, 
and the name of rule was given to them. Strictly speaking, however, 
the rule of St. Augustine, as recognized by those who follow it, is 
nothing else than his 109th letter, which was addressed to religious 
women. 

This reformation of the Canons was not universally accepted, and 
relaxation continued to prevail among many of them, though several 
particular reforms were introduced. Thus, in the same century, the 
Congregation of St. Rufus was instituted by Canons of the church of 
Avignon, and those of Saint Quentin of Beauvais were reformed by 
Yvo of Chartres. In the eleventh century we begin to hear of 
Canons who follow the rule of St. Augustine. According to Father 
Chaponel, the institute of Canons Regular of St. Augustine dates only 
from the twelfth century, for it was then that the Canons began to 
bind themselves by solemn vows. In 11 39 Innocent [L, in the Coun- 
cil of Lateran, decreed that all Regular Canons should follow the rule 
of St. Augustine. From this period dates the name of Regular Canons 
of the Order of Saint Augustine, and henceforward the order became 
a flourishing institution in the Church, and branched off into different 
congregations. 

The habit of these Canons, in the commencement of their history, 
that is, the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth cen- 
turies, at which time they took the name of Regular, and placed 
themselves under the patronage of St. Augustine, consisted of an 
alb, which descended to the feet, and which they wore at all times. 
On their shoulders they were clad with an amice in the guise 
of a mantle, and over the alb and amice, with a cape and hood, 
with which they covered their head. This cape was originally closed 
on all sides, leaving only an opening for the hands, but in course of 
time it was opened in front. The form of habit worn by the Canons 
of the twelfth century gives us a clue to the development of that which 
is still worn by bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries. There 
was no uniformity of color, some wearing white, others black, red, or 
violet; but Pope Benedict XII., in 1339, decreed that Canons Regular 



REGULAR CANONS. 



167 



should wear only white, brown, or a color approaching to, if not en- 
tirely, black. The surplice now worn by clerics is nothing else but 
an abbreviation of the original alb, which was once common to all the 
clergy. The use of the biretta was introduced as early as the eleventh 
century. Its form was originally round, but it became square about 
four centuries since. It is probable that the Canons Regular made no 
use of it before the year 1339. 

The order of Canons was once very powerful in England, where 
they bore the name of Black Canons to distinguish them from the con- 
gregations of which the members wore white. In 15 19 they were re- 
formed by Cardinal Wolsey, in virtue of a brief of Leo X., although 
it has been surmised that this reformation was rather a scheme of the 
ambitious cardinal. Nevertheless he enacted several useful decrees, 
which were soon to be neutralized by the schism into which Henry 
VIII. plunged the kingdom. 

The special statutes of Wolsey are eighteen in number, providing 
for the assembly of a general chapter every three years, and for other 
points of religious discipline, such as the observance of purity and 
obedience. The abbots are charged to watch diligently over their 
subjects, to be constantly at their posts, to correct by daily chapters 
whatever might be amiss, and to provide in each monastery a " prison, 
where, if it shall be necessary, the more notable and graver offences 
may be punished." 

Regular Canons were also very numerous throughout Ireland. Their 
monastery at Kells, four miles north of Antrim, lasted until the Sup- 
pression. A priory of Regular Canons, founded at Leighlin, County Car- 
low, in 616, existed until the year 1060, when Leighlin was destroyed 
by fire. There were many other monasteries of the kind throughout 
Ireland, for instance, those of Mullin, County Carlow ; Killachad, 
County Cavan ; Inchyeronam, and Iniregananagh, in the county of 
Clare ; Ballybeg, County Cork ; at Denny, and at Coleraine in Derry. A 
monaster)' of Regular Canons following the rule of St. Augustine existed 
until 1557 in the city of Armagh, and it was said to have been founded 
by St. Patrick himself. Nuns of the Order of St. Augustine possessed 
a priory at Alhaddy, in the county of Carlow, about the year 1151. 

The Order of Regular Canonesses was established in Ireland by St. 
Bridget in the fifth century. Its principal monastery was at Kildare, 
where the saint herself generally resided. This institution remained 
in existence until the time of the Suppression. It is supposed that the 
nuns who belonged to it wore a white robe and black mantle. It must 
not be confounded with the Order of the Bridgettines, founded by St. 
Bridget of Sweden, and of which we shall treat in a following chapter. 



THE LATERAN AND OTHER CONGREGATIONS. 



ST. LEO THE GREAT. — CANONS OF LATERAN. — DECLINE OF THE ORDER. — 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT. — BLESSED BARTHOLOMEW COLONNA. — CANON- 
ESSES. — ST. VICTOR. 

HUMAN nature is always the same in all ages of the world, and it 
remains prone to evil, whether it be decorated with the insignia of 
royalty, or of ecclesiastical dignity, or whether it belong to the humbler 
walks of life. Although the clergy were destined to be the salt of the 
earth, that salt has too frequently been corrupted. But, unlike human 
institutions, the Church carries along in its bosom a principle of life 
which repairs its losses, and reforms the abuses that too frequently en- 
ter into it. Read the history of the Church, and you will read the his- 
tory of a constant combat against relaxation. That history is not only 
a formation, but also a continued reformation. While the Church, in 
fulfilling its destiny, builds up, it is, at the same time obliged unceas- 
ingly to repair, and thus its work becomes double : that of edification 
and of reparation. We must not imagine that it was only in the Mid- 
dle Ages and in modern times that these reformations were needed, 
for as early as the year 383 Saint Jerome complains of disorders 
among the clergy of Rome. Saint Leo I., the Great, about the year 
440, determined to bring about a reformation among the clerics of his 
Church of St. John Lateran, and made use of Gelasius, who afterwards 
became Pope, and who had been a disciple of St. Augustine, to estab- 
lish this great work and cause them to live according to the. rules 
which the Holy Doctor had made for his Church of Hippo. During 
the reign of this Pope community life was established among the 
clergy of the afore-mentioned Church. This Basilica had been erected 
by the great Constantine himself, and it bore the name of the Holy Sav- 
iour, to which was added that of St. John. It was recognized as the first 
in rank among all the churches of Christendom, and was considered 
by the Sovereign Pontiffs as their Cathedral. 

The Canons of St. John Lateran persevered for some time in the good 
dispositions to which they had been brought by the zeal of St. Leo, but 
afterwards they again fell into relaxation. Alexander II., in 1061, 
brought to Rome certain Canons of St. Frigdian of Lucca to reform 

168 



THE LA TE RAN AND OTHER CONGREGA TIONS. 169 



those of Lateran, and having in a council held at Rome in 1063 enacted 
decrees for their guidance, he established the Congregation of Canons 
Regular of Lateran, of which the church of that name became the 
chief. The Basilica remained in possession of this congregation until 
the reign of Boniface VIII., who became Pope in 1294, and gave it to 
seculars. From that period the congregation began to decline, and 
finally disappeared. 

It was re-established in 1445 by Pope Eugene IV., who brought to 
the church of St. John Lateran Canons of another congregation, and 
established them under the name of Canons of the Holy Saviour of 
Lateran. They did not, however, continue in possession of the Basilica, 
but after great troubles, left it, finally, in 147 1 , in the hands of seculars. 

This congregation acknowledges as its Father and reformer Bles- 
sed Bartholomew Colonna, and it has given to the Church several illus- 
trious men. Peter Martyr, one of the sixteenth century Protestant 
reformers, had been a member of this order. It exists to the present 
day. Its members take a fourth vow not to accept any benefice with- 
out the permission of the general chapter. Their habit is white, and 
they wear a black mantle when they leave their monastery. Several 
other congregations of Canons Regular have at intervals been united 
to those of the Holy Saviour of Lateran, and the order was also intro- 
duced into Poland and Moravia. A word must here be said con- 
cerning the female branch of this order. Regular Canonesses existed 
as early as the ninth century, though it is probable that they were not 
originally established as such, but that they became thus by neglect- 
ing the rule of St. Benedict, which they had at first professed, and by 
imitating the lives of the Canons. The first rule followed by these 
Canonesses does not appear to have been that of St. Augustine, but to 
have been taken from the works of other Fathers. The Council of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, held in 816, permitted them to possess their property, 
the administration of which, however, was to be left to a third person. 
They were also allowed to have servants, but this practice was con- 
demned in the Council of Rome, in 1060, under Nicholas II. 

It was probably about the middle of the twelfth century that the 
Canonesses were subjected to the rule of St. Augustine. Although the 
Canons of Lateran had determined not to take upon themselves the 
direction of nuns, the solicitations of the Sovereign Pontiffs and of 
noble lords who had founded monasteries of Canonesses, forced them 
to depart from their resolution, and consequently many monasteries 
of Canonesses became subject to their congregation. The habit adopt- 
ed by these Canonesses consisted of a white robe with a rochet, over 
which they wore a surplice when in choir. They have continued to 



170 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



exist down to the present time, and they are now under the direction 
of secular ecclesiastics. 

II. 

CONGREGATION OF ST. RUFUS. 

In the year 1039 four Canons of the cathedral of Avignon, desirous 
of leading a more fervent life, separated from their brethren and took 
up their abode near a little church dedicated to Saint Rufus, thus 
laying the foundation of the congregation of that name which became 
renowned in France, Italy, and Spain. The spirit of poverty and the 
austerity of these Canons was very great, and after the Council of Lat- 
eran, in 11 39, they embraced the rule of St. Augustine, in virtue of de- 
crees of the council which imposed it upon all Regular Canons. Their 
monastery of St. Rufus being destroyed by the Albigensians in 12 10, 
they built another at Valence in Dauphine, and dedicated its church 
to the same saint. This monastery then became the mother-house of 
the order. It was ruined by the civil wars in 1560, and a priory which 
existed within the walls of Valence took its place as mother-house. 
Three popes, Anastasius IV., Adrian IV., and Julius II., were mem. 
bers of this order, which was in great esteem during the twelfth cen- 
tury. Its members wore a white habit and a black cincture with a 
mantle of the latter color. It continued in existence until the latter 
part of the preceding century, when strange to say, its members at their 
own desire were secularized by Clement XIV., in 1773, and the order 
thus became extinct. 

Ill, 

CONGREGATION OF ST. VICTOR. 

This congregation derived its name from a monastery built at Paris 
in 1 1 13, in which William of Champeaux and his disciples, adopted in 
the same year the rules and habit of Canons Regular. This William 
of Champeaux was a famous doctor who taught philosophy, and who 
in this occupation was afterwards succeeded by other celebrated re- 
ligious of the abbey. Foremost among these were Hugh and Richard 
of St. Victor. 

Several communities embraced the observance of this monastery, 
and thus formed a congregation of' Regular Canons. Their rules, 
particularly of abstinence and silence, were very rigorous. Although 
the congregation was several times broken into various fragments, the 
monastery of St. Victor always persevered in its regular observance. 
The religious of this order wore a white habit. The congregation has 
ceased to exist, being suppressed at the French Revolution, and at the 



THE LA TERAN AND 0 THER CONG REG A TIONS. 171 



present day not a trace of the venerable abbey of St. Victor remains. 

The Congregation of St. Victor was not limited to France only ; it 
had extended beyond that kingdom. Among its foundations abroad we 
may mention the monastery of Muckamore, in the county of Antrim, 
in Ireland. 1 

IV. 

CONGREGATION OF ST. GENEVIEVE. 

The cradle of this congregation was the abbey of St. Vincent de 
Senlis, founded, in 1060, by Anne of Russia, wife of Henry I., king of 
France, for Canons living in common. It had gradually fallen into a 
state of relaxation, until, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
it had become but the ghost of its former self. In the year 1614, it re- 
ceived into its community a young man who was destined to revive 
its spirit. Born in 1594, near Paris, Charles Faure entered into the 
monastery of St. Vincent de Senlis to follow the desire of his mother. 
All that he witnessed on the very day on which he received the habit 
of religion was far from edifying, and rather calculated to stifle with- 
in his breast every sentiment of religious fervor. He began his novi- 
tiate surrounded by the bad examples given by the other religious, but 
he himself shone as a light in the midst of darkness. Did we not be- 
hold in this singular vocation the finger of Divine Providence, it 
would be impossible to understand how a young man, so desirous of 
perfection, could have persevered in such a place. He made his vows, 
nevertheless, in this monastery, on March 1st, 161 5. Having finished 
his studies at Paris, he returned to his monastery, desirous of reform- 
ing it. Two religious joined him, in spite of the opposition of the 
others, who were headed by the prior. The tragic deaths of five of the 
religious, followed by that of the prior, within less than a year, did 
more than anything else to cause the reformation of the community. 
The religious were touched, and by the advice of Charles Faure, who 
was not yet a priest, regulations were drawn up for the government of 
the monastery. In September, 161 8, Faure was ordained priest, and 
soon after, chosen superior. As much as the monastery had been a 
subject of disedification, it now became a model of sanctity. The re- 
form extended to other monasteries, and it was first introduced into 
that of St. John of Chartres, and, afterwards, into that of St. Genevieve 
du-Mont at Paris, which, under the patronage of the Cardinal de la 
Rochefoucauld, became the mother-house of this new congregation, to 
which it gave its name. This monastery had received its first regular 
Canons from the Congregation of St. Victor. Father Faure was made 

1 Monasticon Hibernicum. 



172 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



its superior, and was, some years after, canonically elected abbot-gen- 
eral of the entire congregation, which at that time had become very 
numerous. This saintly man died, on November 4th, 1644. After his 
death the congregation increased to such an extent that it became 
the largest of all the congregations of Canons Regular. The habit 
worn by the religious was white. 

There have been several other congregations of Regular Canons, 
to which we may devote only a passing notice. We thus make men- 
tion of the Congregation of Marbach, founded by Manegold of Lut- 
tenbach, towards the close of the eleventh century; of that of Arouaise, 
established about the same time ; of that of Grunthal, founded about 
1339; and that of Windesheim, established about the year 1386. It was 
to this last mentioned congregation that the celebrated Thomas a 
Kempis, who died in 1471, belonged. 




THE PREMONSTRATENSIANS. 



ST. NORBERT. — GREAT POVERTY OF THE ORDER. — MITIGATIONS.— RE- 
FORMED PREMONSTRATENSIANS. — 

THIS order of Regular Canons, ai which St. Norbert was the foun- 
der, came into existence a short time after the formation of 
the three great monastic orders of the twelfth century of which we have 
already spoken, namely, those of Chartreuse, Citeaux, and Grandmont. 
St. Norbert was born at Santen, in the Duchy of Cleves, in the year 
1082. After a brilliant education, he entered the ecclesiastical state, 
obtained a canonry in his native place, and he was ordained subdea- 
con. Following the courts of the emperor, Henry V., and of Freder- 
ick, archbishop of Cologne, he abandoned himself to a life of pleasure 
until God opened his eyes to the danger of his condition by a stroke of 
lightning, which rendered him insensible for the space of an hour. The 
reflection which followed this accident entirely changed his conduct. 
He now gave a public example of a penitential life, and, having been 
admitted to the priesthood, he first exercised its sacred functions at 
Santen. He especially gave himself to the ministry of preaching the 
word of God, although he had to experience much opposition, which 
finally obliged him to leave the diocese of Cologne, and retire into 
Provence, where he obtained from the Pope himself the permission to 
preach. 

St. Norbert attracted great multitudes and effected numerous con- 
versions by the example of his austerity and mortifications. The 
permission granted him by Pope Gelasius to preach the Gospel 
everywhere was confirmed by Pope Calixtus II. about the year 
1 1 19. Finally he settled in the diocese of Laon, where he founded his 
order of Premontre in the same year, in the reign of Louis the Fat, 
king of France. It owed its beginning to the suggestion of Barthol- 
omew, Bishop of Laon. The saint and his companion, Hughes des 
Fosses, received a white habit from the Bishop, on Jan. 25, 1120. His 
companions, having in course of time increased to the number of thir- 
teen, he gave to them the rule of St. Augustine, and established them 
as Regular Canons. They made their profession on Christmas day, 

173 



174 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



1 122. In 1 126 the order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II., and 
many privileges were at various periods conferred upon it. 

In the beginning of their institution, the Premonstratensians were 
noted for their great poverty. The order spread rapidly, so that, 
thirty years after its foundation, nearly a hundred abbots were present 
at its general chapter. Their primitive fervor lasted nearly 120 years. 
During that time they observed rigorous abstinence. Their holy 
founder had also imposed a perpetual fast upon them. 

In 1 1 27 St. Norbert became Archbishop of Magdeburg. He died 
on June 6, 1134, and he was canonized by Innocent III. 

The order persevered in its primitive fervor until the year 1245, al- 
though relaxations had crept into" several houses since 1220. The rule 
of abstinence became gradually more mitigated, so that in 1460 the 
religious were obliged to abstain only in Advent, from Septuagesima to 
Easter, and on all Wednesdays and Saturdays of the year, and to fast 
on Fridays. 

This order was at one time very powerful, and it has given to the 
Church a number of saints and illustrious men. According to Lecuy, 
last abbot of Premontre, and Generalof the order, the Institute of St. 
Norbert began to decline at the period of the Anglican schism and 
the Protestant Reformation, which suppressed many of its houses. 
About 1 5 73 the abbeys of Spain separated from the body of the order and 
formed a congregation of their own, preserving at the same time the 
habit and the statutes. In the reign of Joseph II. of Austria other 
suppressions followed. At the period of the French Revolution the 
monasteries of the order were suppressed in France and Belgium. In 
1805 it still possessed ten abbeys. It has continued to exist down to 
the present day, especially in Austria, Belgium, and Holland. In the 
diocese of Bois-le-Duc in the last named country, several parishes are 
served by members of the order. The habit of the Premonstraten- 
sians is white. 

In the 16th and 17th centuries congregations of Reformed Pre- 
monstratensians were established in Spain and France. 

St. Norbert had also founded a female branch of his order. Blessed 
Ricovere was the first to receive the veil from his hands, and her ex- 
ample was imitated by so great a number that it is said that during 
the lifetime of the saint, there were more than ten thousand religious 
women who followed his rule. Their life, in the beginning, was very 
austere, and they observed a strict silence. They were not . accus- 
tomed to sing in choir, but the} 7 recited their office in private. They 
were never allowed to leave the monastery, nor were they permitted to 
speak to a man, no matter how nearly related to them, but in presence 



THE PREM ONSTRA TEN SI A NS. 



175 



of two Sisters. In course of time the number of nuns belonging 
to the Order of St. Norbert became greatly reduced, so that but few- 
monasteries remained. 

The Premonstratensians possessed an abbey at Drum la Croix in Ire- 
land, which had been founded from that of Drieburghin Scotland, and 
one at Lough Oughter in the county Cavan, which continued to exist 
until the period of the suppression of monasteries. 



THE TRINITARIANS. 



SAINTS JOHN OF MATHA AND FELIX OF VALOIS. — REDEMPTION OF CAP- 
TIVES. — RELAXATION. — DISCALCED TRINITARIANS. — NUNS OF THE 
ORDER. 

THIS order began in 1 198, during the pontificate of Innocent III., 
and it was founded by Saints John of Matha and Felix of Valois. 
The former was born in France in 1160, and from his earliest infancy 
he showed signs of his future sanctity. Having studied theology at 
Paris, he was ordained priest. Several persons present at his first Mass 
had a vision in which they beheld an angel attired in a white robe, with 
a red and a blue cross on his breast, his arms crossed before him, and 
his hands resting on the heads of two captives. Soon after this the 
saint retired into solitude, and joined a holy hermit named Felix of Va- 
lois, who lived in the diocese of Meaux. 

One day, as these two saints conversed together, they beheld a white 
deer with a red and blue cross between its horns. Connecting this 
with the apparition which had been seen on the day of the first Mass of St. 
John of Matha, they concluded that God desired something special of 
them. Hereupon they redoubled their prayers and austerities. Soon 
after an angel appeared to them three times in a dream, and command- 
ed them to go to the Sovereign Pontiff, from whom they would learn 
their mission. 

Having arrived at Rome, they assisted at the Mass of the Pope, and 
the same apparition that had been seen at Paris was again rendered 
visible. Innocent III., recognizing in this the finger of God, permitted 
them to found a religious order for the redemption of captives who 
were in the power of the infidels. On February 2d, 1198, he invested 
them with a habit consisting of a white robe with a red and blue cross. 
The new order received the name of the Holy Trinity, and of the Re- 
demption of Captives. 

The two founders returned to France with letters from the Pope to 
the bishop of Paris and the abbot of Saint Victor, the latter being 
commanded to give them a rule and provide them with a convent. 
They established their first monastery, and the order began to increase, 
and among those who presented themselves to be received into it were 

170 



TRINITARIANS 



THE TRINITARIANS. 



177 



men distinguished by their science and their merit. The rule composed 
by the abbot of Saint Victor was approved by the Pope, who gave to 
the order the convent of Saint Thomas, called della Novicella. 

The special work of the order was now begun with the happ}/ re- 
sult that the first brethren sent to Morocco succeeded in liberating 
eighty-six captives in the year 1200. In the same year a house of 
the order was established in Flanders, and other monasteries were 
successively founded in Provence and in Spain. St. John of Matha 
himself went to Tunis, where he redeemed many prisoners. 

Saint Felix meanwhile continued to extend the order in France. 
He died on November 20th, 12 12. He was followed to the grave, the 
year after, by St. John of Matha, who breathed his last at Rome on De- 
cember 2 1 st, 1213, or 1 2 14, according to some authors. 

The original rule was mitigated by the authority of Pope Urban 
IV., and thus approved by Clement IV . in 1267. This order is founded 
on the rule of St. Augustine. It is considered by its members to be- 
long to the orders of Regular Canons. The religious are allowed, un- 
der certain restrictions, to take charge of parishes. Their habit va- 
ries in different countries. 

Before the Reformation the order possessed fifty-two houses in 
Ireland. In 1688 the religious of Spain separated from the others, and 
elected their own General, but in 1705 they were again united. 

We have seen during the course of this history how religious or- 
ders, which had been fervent in the beginning, gradually underwent the 
fate of human institutions and declined. The Trinitarians formed no 
exception to the rule. Their general chapters, held in 1573 and in 
1576, endeavored to reform the order, but unsuccessfully. What the 
chapters had failed to do was, however, effected by two saintly re- 
ligious, Fathers Julian of Nantonville and Claude Aleph, who, notwith- 
standing many oppositions, succeeded in introducing a reform, which, 
however, did not extend to the entire order. The rule followed by 
the Reformed Religious requires continual abstinence from flesh-meat, 
except on Sundays and certain feasts of the year. They are also 
obliged to rise at midnight for Matins. 

'In 1596 was founded the Congregation of Discalced, or barefooted 
Trinitarians, at Valdepenas in Spain. The religious of this congre- 
gation wear sandals. Father John Baptist of the Conception is con- 
sidered the founder of this reform. He had studied with the Discalced 
Carmelites, whose example exercised a great influence over him/ 
and it had been his desire to enter their order, but his parents prevented . 
him. He became a Trinitarian at Toledo in 1580, and seventeen 
years later joined the Fathers, who had taken up their abode at Val- 



178 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



depenas, and he was appointed their Superior. He had mucli to 
suffer from the other religious, but persevered in spite of all obstacles, 
and died on February 14, 161 3. 

Paul V., in 1609, had permitted these religious to be governed by a 
Vicar-General, subject to the General of the order. In the same year 
they were admitted to the number of the Mendicants. In 1636 Urban 
VIII. separated them from the jurisdiction of the order, and per- 
mitted them to elect their own General. The reform spread to Po- 
land, Germany, Austria, and Italy. 

While the Congregation of Discalced Trinitarians was being founded 
in Spain, Father Jerome Halies of the Blessed Sacrament was working 
at a similar establishment in France. Fie also succeeded in spite of op- 
position, and obtained the confirmation of his institute from Pope Urban 
VIII. in 1629. He spent some time in Spain to study the practices of 
the Discalced Trinitarians in that country. After a life full of merit, he 
died in his monastery of Saint Dennis at Rome, on January 30th, 1637. 
The houses of this reform were united into a separate province in 1670. 
Their observances very much resemble those of the Discalced Trini- 
tarians of Spain, but the habit is slightly different. They both wear 
white, with a blue and red cross on their scapular. From 1688 until 
about the year 1714 the Discalced Trinitarians of Spain, faithful to the 
spirit of their vocation, had obtained the release for more than two 
thousand captives. 

Saint John of Matha had also established a branch of his order for 
nuns, whose object it was to assist the brethren by their prayers. The 
first community of these pious women was founded in Spain. It was 
not until 1236 that they bound themselves by vows and became in the 
proper sense religious. In the beginning of the 17th century the In- 
stitute of Discalced Trinitarian Nuns was founded in Spain. They af- 
terwards also obtained a foundation at Lima in Peru. There exists a 
Third Order of Trinitarians for people living in the world. The white 
scapular worn by many pious persons represents the habit of the Trini- 
tarians. From the time of its foundation the order succeeded in re- 
leasing an incalculable number of captives. The religious of France 
alone obtained the liberty of about forty thousand, and the provinces 
of Spain of more than one hundred thousand. The order has thus cer- 
tainly worked faithfully in the past, at the accomplishment of the task 
imposed upon it by Divine Providence. 

According to their modified constitutions, Trinitarians are bound to 
fast every day in Advent and on all Fridays of the year which are not 
a double feast or octave. They are not bound to perpetual abstinence. 
During meals reading at table must not be dispensed with, not even. 



TRINITARIAN NUNS 



NUNS OF THE PRESENTATION 



I 



THE TRINITARIANS. 



179 



when seculars are present. On Friday the constitutions are read. 
No one is allowed to leave the monastery without permission. Mat- 
ins and Lauds are recited at half-past five in the morning, and are fol- 
lowed by a quarter of an hour's meditation. Another quarter of an 
hour is devoted to the same exercise after Compline in the evening. At 
present the General of the entire order is a Discalced Trinitarian, while 
those'of the common observance are governed by a Vicar-General. 
The Gerarchia Cattolica, an annual directory of the hierarchy, published 
at Rome, places the Trinitarians among the mendicant orders. 




THE ORDER OF MERCY FOR THE REDEMPTION OF 

CAPTIVES. 



ST. PETER NOLASCO. — CONSTITUTIONS. — SCHISM. — GOVERNMENT. — DIS- 
CALCED RELIGIOUS.— NUNS.— THIRD ORDER. 

A N order similar in its object to the one of which we treated in the 



£\ preceding chapter is the Order of Mercy, founded under the pro- 
tection of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Peter Nolasco. This saint 
was born at Languedoc, in France, about the year 1189, when St. John 
of Matha was nearly thirty years old, and nine years before the foun- 
dation of the Order of the Holy Trinity. Although attached to the 
court of King James of Aragon, he led the life of a saint. He was es- 
pecially touched by compassion at the thought of the Christians who 
were held captives by the Moors. In 12 18 the Blessed Virgin appeared 
to him and told him that God wished him to found an order in 
which the religious should bind themselves by a special vow to redeem 
captives. His confessor was St. Raymond of Pennafort, at that time 
canon of Barcelona. He consulted him, and he was surprised to learn 
that St. Raymond had had a similar vision. At that period St. John 
of Matha had already visited Spain, and his order was consequently 
known in that country. King James entered into their plans with great 
zeal, for he, too, had been favored with a celestial vision on the same 
subject. The bishop of Barcelona, however, made objections on the 
plea that a recent council of Lateran had forbidden the establishment of 
any religious order without the approbation of the Holy See, but reflect- 
ing that an indult of Gregory VII. and of Urban II. had made an ex- 
ception in favor of King Sanchez and his dominions, he finally consented. 
A congregation already existed in Spain, which had been founded un- 
der Alfonso V. for a similar purpose, and most of its members now 
joined the institute of St. Peter Nolasco. The Order of Mercy was at 
first instituted as a military order, for the laymen who joined it also 
obliged themselves to defend the faith by armed force. It was sol- 
emnly established on August 10th, I2i8,in the Cathedral of Barcelona, 
in presence of the king and his court. Saint Peter Nolasco received 
the habit from the bishop, and in turn gave it to his companions. 




1 81 1 



THE ORDER OF MERCY. 



181 



They bound themselves, besides the three vows of religion, by afourth 
one, in virtue of which they were even to deliver themselves up, if nec- 
essary, and remain in captivity in order to obtain liberty for others. 
The habit of the priests consisted of a white tunic with scapular and 
mantle, while the laymen wore the secular dress, but of a white color, 
with a small scapular. Most of these first religious, thirteen in num- 
ber, were born in France. They soon began their work with marked 
success, and Gregory IX. approved the order in 1230. Their first 
monastery had been a quarter of the king's own palace, but in 1232 
they established a separate convent at Barcelona. In 1235 Gregory 
IX. gave to them the rule of St. Augustine, and confirmed their order 
anew. St. Peter Nolasco was the first grand-commander of the order. 
He died on Christmas night, 1256. 

Before his death he had resigned the government of the order,, 
and William de Bas was elected by the religious to succeed him. At 
that time the order possessed houses in France at Montpellier, Tou- 
louse, Valence, and in other places. The new commander convoked 
a general chapter at Barcelona, and four definitors-general were elect- 
ed, two priests and two knights, to serve as consultors to the Superior 
of the order. The king of Aragon conferred upon this General and 
his successors the title of Baron of Algar, granting them at the same 
time a deliberative voice in the assembly of the states of the kingdom. 
During the period of his administration, William de Bas and his re- 
ligious redeemed fourteen hundred Christian slaves. Having added 
several monasteries to his order, he died in 1269, being more than 
eighty years of age, and he was succeeded by Bernard of St. Romanus* 
Seeing that the convents of his order nearly all followed different 
observances, the new General collected all the decrees of the preceding 
general chapters and gave them to the different monasteries as con- 
stitutions, in order to introduce uniformity among them. He gov- 
erned the order only two years, and he was succeeded by Peter 
d'Aymeri, who died in 1301. After the death of the latter the order 
was divided by a schism. The commander of the convent of Barcelo- 
na, the Vicar-General of the order, had summoned the chapter to 
meet at his monastery, while the Vicar-Perpetual at Our Lady of Puch 
also on his side convoked a chapter at his convent. Peter of Fourny 
was elected General at Barcelona, and the same office was conferred 
upon Arnaud d'Aymeri at Puch. The authority of Pope Boniface VIII. 
was invoked to settle the difficulty, but the death of Peter of Fourny, 
which took place four months later, restored harmony, and Arnaud 
d'Aymeri was universally accepted. This General showed himself a 
man of great prudence, and did much to restore the regular observ- 



182 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ance, which had begun to wane. Divisions and schisms exist where- 
ever humanity exists, even in the holiest institutions, nor ought they 
ever to be a cause of scandal to the faithful, for we must remember 
that besides the divine element in the Church, there exists also the 
frail, fickle, ever-changing human element, with all its imperfections. 

Thus far laymen had been elected to govern the order, and Helyot 
believes that even the first General, St. Peter Nolasco, was never 
raised to the priesthood. A great change in its government, however, 
took place after the death of Arnaud d'Aymeri. As the number of 
priests exceeded that of the knights, Father Raymond Albert, one of 
the former, was elected General about the year 1308. The knights, refus- 
ing to acquiesce in this election, withdrew from the chapter to Va- 
lencia where they elected Arnold Rossignol. Pope Clement V. annulled 
this latter election, but nevertheless afterwards appointed Arnold 
Commander-General for the temporalities of the order, leaving ail 
spiritual jurisdiction in the hands of Father Raymond. The Pope at 
the same time decreed that henceforward only a priest should be 
elected General. 

After the death of Arnold Rossignol, Father Raymond Albert was 
elected General. John XXII. confirmed the election, and imposed 
silence upon the knights, which displeased them so much that the 
greater number left the Order of Mercy to enter that of Montesa, 
which had been recently established by the king of Aragon instead of 
the Templars, latelv suppressed. This step obtained, however, the ap- 
probation of the Sovereign Pontiff. 

During the pontificate of Pius V. visitors were appointed to reform 
themonasieriesof the order. Religious of St. Dominic spent live years 
in visiting the different communities, after which thev convoked a 
general chapter, which elected Father Francis Torres as Superior-Gen- 
eral. The apostolic commissaries decreed that the General, who had 
hitherto been elected for life, should henceforward hold his office only 
for six years, and that the commander of the several monasteries should 
remain in office only three years. 

The Order of Mercy spread extensivelv in South America, where 
at one time it possessed eight provinces. It has given to the Church 
several cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and distinguished writers, and 
a number of saints. 

The religious of the order wear on their scapular the arms of Ara- 
gon. 



THE ORDER OF MERCY. 



1S3 



II. 

DISCALCED RELIGIOUS OF THE ORDER OF MERCY. 

In reading the history of religious orders we may have noticed that 
the important reforms which were at different periods introduced 
among them originated frequently from subordinates in the order ; 
but it was not thus in the institution of St. Peter Nolasco. Its ref- 
ormation emanated from the highest authority within it. Towards the 
close of the sixteenth century, Father Alphonsus de Monroy, General 
of the order, being desirous of introducing a reform, destined seven 
convents of the province of Castile for that purpose, in order that 
those religious who desired to practise a stricter observance might 
there find what they longed for. This permission was granted only 
on condition that they would not change their habit and would remain 
subject to their superiors. Father John Baptist Gonzalez was appoint- 
ed director of the reform, and he took up his abode in the convent 
of Hueta. However, the General did not continue in these dispositions, 
and an opposition having been raised against Father Gonzalez, he rel- 
egated him to a convent in Asturia, and thus almost destroyed the good 
work he had himself begun. 

Father Gonzalez, a man of eminent virtue, being afterwards sent to 
Madrid, made the acquaintance of the countess Beatrix Ramirez de 
Mendoza, to whom he spoke of his designs of introducing a reform in- 
to his order. The lady entered into his views, and offered to found 
two convents for him. The General, however, would notgive his con- 
sent. Hereupon the countess applied to Clement VIII.. who by brief 
established a Congregation of the Order of Mercy, and appointed as its 
General Father Bartholomew of Alcala, a religious of the Order of St. 
Jerome, under the condition that he would quit the habit of his order 
to adopt that of the Order of Mercy. The Pope also ordered that 
Father Jerome should govern the congregration until it possessed 
eight convents, and that if he desired to remain in the Order of Mercy, 
he should exercise the office of General six ye'ars longer. All this was 
done without the knowledge of Father John Baptist, who was much 
surprised on learning what had taken place. He represented to the 
countess that he had never intended to separate himself from the jur- 
isdiction of the order, and that the religious desirous of embracing 
the reform would not consent to place themselves under the guidance 
of a stranger. The countess, approving of his reasons, showed the 
papal brief to the General, and convinced him of t he attachment of Fa- 
ther John Baptist to his order. The General, touched by this, prom- 
ised to favor the reform, and framed the constitutions its members 
were to observe. 



184 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Father John Baptist and five companions immediately embraced 
the reform, at the same time renouncing their family names. The 
countess, faithful to her promise, built two convents for the reformed 
religious, who had much opposition to encounter on the side of those of 
the common observance, though many mem bers of the order joined them. 
The reform spread rapidly in Spain and in Sicily, in which latter 
country a separate province was afterward formed. The reformed 
religious adopted the habit of the Discalced Carmelites, with the 
mantle somewhat longer, and sandals like those worn by the Capu- 
chins. They still continued to wear the arms of Aragon. 

Paul V. approved the reform in 1606, and Gregory XV., in 1621, 
separated them entirely from those of the common observance. 

III. 

NUNS OF THE ORDER OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 

The second Order of Our Lady of Mercy, or that of the female relig- 
ious, was established at Seville in 1568 by Father Antonio Velasco. 
Its first members were Maria Capat'a, Beatrix de las Roelas, and Fran- 
cisca Martel, three ladies of great virtue who had placed themselves 
under the direction of Father Antonio. Having obtained the neces- 
sary authorization from the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Se- 
ville, and from the Provincial of Castile, they also applied to the Sover- 
eign Pontiff, Pius V., who approved of the institution by a bull dated 
in 1568. Father Velasco prepared the constitutions to be observed by 
the nuns and submitted them to the general chapter. A monastery 
having been completed, Father Velasco gave the habit to the new 
religious, and thus began the institution of nuns of the Order of Our 
Lady of Mercy. 

After the reform introduced by Father John Baptist, of which we 
treated in the preceding number, had been begun, monasteries of dis- 
calced nuns were also established. They wear the same habit as the 
men. 

The Third Order of Our Lady of Mercy, in imitation of those of St. 
Francis and St. Dominic, was established about the year 1265 by 
Blessed Bernard of Carbaria, religious of the Order of Mercv, with 
the permission of the General, William de Bas, and the general-defini- 
tors. Its members seem to have lived in community. At present it 
is but little known. 



BRIGITTINES. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORDER.— RULES. — SION-HOUSE. — BRIGIT- 
TINES IN SPAIN. 

r PHE foundress of this order, St. Bridget, was a Swedish princess, 



born about the year 1302. In obedience to the wishes of her 
lather she married Ulpho, prince of Nericia. Both before and after 
her marriage St. Bridget led a life of great virtue. Her husband, 
with her consent, entering the Order of Citeaux, in which he died dur- 
ing his novitiate, she divided her goods among her children and gave 
herself up entirely to exercises of piety. 

It was probably about the year 1344 that she founded the monas- 
tery of Wastein, in the kingdom of Sweden, and thus laid the founda- 
tions of the order which bears her name, and which is also called the 
Order of the Holy Saviour. It is said that Our Lord Himself revealed 
to her the constitutions which were to be observed in it. 

According to these the order was especially founded for women, 
although there were also attached to it men, whose duty it became to 
attend to the spiritual wants of the Sisters. Its object was a special 
veneration of the Blessed Virgin. Each monastery was to possess 
sixty nuns, and in a separate inclosure, thirteen priests, four deacons, 
and eight lay-brothers. The priests represented the thirteen apostles, 
and the deacons the four doctors of the Church, — Saint Ambrose, 
Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory, and St. Jerome. The entire com- 
munity consisted of the number of the thirteen apostles and sev- 
enty-two disciples of Christ. The age fixed for the reception of the 
nuns was eighteen, while that for the men was twenty-five. The Sis- 
ters remained a year as postulants before receiving the habit. Both 
Brothers and Sisters were received into the order with imposing cere- 
monies, at which the bishop of the place presided. In the church, 
which was for the use of the religious of both sexes, though they were 
separated and could not. see one another, there were thirteen altars. 

The members of this order were permitted by their constitutions 
to eat meat four times a week at dinner. They were obliged to fast 
from the feast of All-Saints until Christmas, from the day after 
Ascension until Pentecost, and from the feast of the Exaltation of the 




185 



186 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Holy Cross to Michaelmas, besides every Friday and Saturday of the 
year, and on the vigils of certain feasts. 

The habit of the Sisters was to consist of a grey tunic, over which 
a mantle, lined in winter with lamb's wool, was to be worn. The 
habit of the men was of the same color. The priests wore on the left 
side of their mantle a red cross in memory of the Saviour's Passion, 
in the centre of which was a white circle, to remind them of the Holy 
Sacrifice they offered daily. The deacons wore a white circle, to 
represent the wisdom of the doctors of the Church, and the lay-broth- 
ers a white cross, the symbol of innocence. It was also decreed that 
towards the end of ever}' year all the superfluous money and provis- 
ions of each monastery should be distributed to the poor, so that there 
might be no accumulation of wealth. The monasteries were to be sub- 
ject to the jurisdiction of the bishops in whose dioceses they existed. 

Silence was to be observed until after the High Mass, which was 
celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin, also during meals, from 
Vespers until after supper, and from the end of the evening recreation 
until the next morning. ■ 

Like in the Order of Fontevrault, the abbess was the Superior of the 
entire community in so far as the temporal administration was con- 
cerned. It was of her province to choose the confessor of the monas- 
tery from among the thirteen priests. Such were the constitutions 
given by St. Bridget to her religious who followed the rule of St. 
Augustine. 

The order was approved by Urban V., Urban VI., John XX HI., 
Martin V., and Gregory XV. The Reformation, in destroying the 
monasteries in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries, 
rendered the entire observance of the constitutions, especially regard- 
ing the number of religious in each monastery, impossible, and several 
points were modified by Clement VIII. and Gregory XV. In some 
monasteries there were only men, in others exclusively women. The 
monastery of Sion in England, rebuilt in 1556 by Queen Mary, and 
again suppressed by Queen Elizabeth, belonged to this order. 1 

Saint Bridget herself, who had never entered into the order she 
had founded, died on July 23, 1773. The infamous Oecolampadius, 
who apostatized in the beginning of the Lutheran agitation, and of 
whom Luther was an enemy, had been a member of this order. 

1 Sion house, situated near the Thames in Middlesex, about ten miles from London, was founded 
by Henry V. in 1413. Being very rich, it w as one of the first monasteries suppressed by Henry 
VIII. Edward VI. granted it first to Edward, duke of Somerset, and after his attainder to John, 
duke of Northumberland. Queen Mary restored it to the order, but it was again dissolved by 
Elizabeth.— Note to Alhan Butler's Lives of the Saints, Oct. 8. 



BRIGITTINES. 



187 



The Brigittines were introduced into Spain by Marina Escobar, who 
founded a monastery at Valladolid in the beginning of the seventeenth 
century. The foundress was a woman of great sanctity. She modified 
the constitutions of St. Bridget and accommodated them to the times 
in which she lived. In this work she was aided by Father Louis de 
Ponte of the Society of Jesus. Her constitutions were approved by 
Urban VIII. This branch of the Order of St. Bridget bears the name 
of the Recollection. 




THE CROISIERS OR CROSS-BEARERS. 



FATHER THEODORE DE CELLES. — ORIGIN OF THE ORDER.— SIMILARITY 
WITH THE DOMINICANS. — UNSUCCESSFUL ESTABLISHMENT IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 

T TNTIL the year 1656 there existed in Italy an order of this name, 



{J divided into the five provinces of Bologna, Venice, Rome, Mi- 
lan, and Naples. Its origin seems shrouded in obscurity, and all that 
can be stated with certainty is that it existed before the year 1169, 
when Alexander III. gave to it a rule and constitutions, and took it 
under his protection. By the year 1656 it had degenerated to such an 
extent that Alexander VII. suppressed it entirely. 

Another order bearing the same name exists to the present day in 
the Netherlands. Leaving aside all that appears fabulous in its origin, 
we follow Helyot in giving our readers its history. According to 
this author it was founded in 121 1, under the pontificate of Innocent 
III., by Father Theodore de Celles, son of the baron of Celles, in the 
country of Liege in Belgium. He was born in 1166, and he grew 
up in learning and piety. After completing his studies he was admit- 
ted to the court of Radulphus of Zeringen, prince-bishop of Liege, 
where, in the midst of distractions, he preserved the innocence of his 
soul, especially through his devotion to the Blessed Virgin. About 
the year 1 1 88, at the age of twenty-one, he followed his prince among 
the crusaders, under the command of Frederick Barbarossa, to the 
Holy Land. After the death of Barbarossa and of his successor, Fred- 
erick of Suabia, the bishop of Liege, together with other crusaders, 
returned home. Seeing the piety of the youthful baron of Celles, he 
deemed him more fitted for the church than for the life of a soldier, 
and bestowed a canonry upon him in the church of St. Lambert. He 
was probably raised to the priesthood by Albert of Louvain, successor 
of Radulphus in the see of Liege. The successor of this bishop, Albert 
of Cuyck, chose Father Theodore as his spiritual director. The holy 
man, profiting by the occasion, persuaded the bishop to reform the 
canons of the cathedral, whose life was far from being regular. Aided 
by the authority of Guy, cardinal and legate of the Holy See, the 
bishop obliged the canons of St. Lambert and those of the collegial 

188 




THE C ROISTERS OR CROSS-BEARERS. 



189 



churches of his diocese to lead a community life. Shortly after, how- 
ever, the legate dispensed these same canons from the obligation of liv- 
ing in common. Theodore then persuaded four canons to join him in 
forming a separate community. In the year 121 1 Hugh de Pierre- 
Pont, bishop of Liege, approved of their manner of life, and gave to 
them the church of Saint Thibaut, near the city of Huy. In course of 
time Father Theodore obtained the confirmation of his order from 
Pope Honorius III. The founder died on Aug 7, 1246, or, according 
to others, in 1244. 

He had sent some of his religious to Toulouse, and these, joining St. 
Dominic in combating the heresy of the Albigensians, conformed 
greatly to the Order of Preachers in the observance of the rule of St. 
Augustine and in the constitutions. This conformity to the Order of St 
Dominic was soon imparted to the whole body of Cross-Bearers, so that 
the second General, Father Vauclourt, obtained anew the confirmation 
of his order from Pope Innocent IV., together with this feature, which 
had been added to it. After this confirmation the order spread in France. 

In 1318 Pope John XXII. took it under his protection, forbidding 
the ordinaries of the dioceses to interfere with its affairs, and confirm- 
ing the privileges granted to it by previous popes. It is said that an 
attempt was several times made, and once successfully, to unite this or- 
der with that of the Cross-Bearers of Italy, but the union did not last. 

The original habit of these religious consisted of a black cassock 
with a grey scapular, over which they wore a black mantle and hood. 
In virtue of a bull of Clement VIII. they exchanged their black cas- 
socks for a white one, and they finally adopted for their habit a white 
habit and black scapular, with a red and white cross on their breast. 

The mother-house of the order at present is at St. Agatha in the 
Netherlands. Some years since these religious endeavored to estab- 
lish themselves at Bay Settlement, Wisconsin, in the diocese of Green 
Bay, but the foundation did not continue in existence. The Cross- 
Bearers possess the privilege of attaching very special indulgences to 
the Rosary. The General of the order is allowed to wear pontifical 
vestments, and he may confer the four minor orders on his subjects. Its 
members consider their order as canonical, military, and hospitaller, and 
regard Father Theodore de Celles as its reformer and not its founder. 
They maintain, as did those of Italy and of Bohemia, that it was found- 
ed by St. Cletus about the year 78 'of our era. 

The Cross-Bearers of Bohemia are a distinct body from those in the 
Netherlands, and it appears that they were founded by Blessed Agnes 
of Bohemia in the thirteenth century. About the year 1847 tne y st ^ 
possessed seven houses in the Austrian Empire. 



CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME. 



BLESSED PETER FOURIER. — ALICE LE CLERC. — REGULAR CANONS OF 
OUR SAVIOUR.— THE CONGREGATION IN FRANCE, BAVARIA, AND THE 
UNITED STATES. — MOTHER CAROLINE. 

/T\N February 2d, 1576, was born at Remiremont, a small city of 



\J Lorraine, the woman who, under the direction of Blessed Peter 
Fourier, was to establish the Congregation of Notre Dame. From 
her childhood Alice Le Clerc attracted to herself the respect of those 
who knew her, on account of the modesty which shone upon her face, 
although she gave herself over, in a great measure, to earthly vanities. 
After some years she made the acquaintance of Blessed Peter Fou- 
rier, parish priest of Mataincourt, to. which parish her family had re- 
moved. 

Blessed Peter Fourier was born on November 30th, 1565, at 
Mirecourt, in Lorraine, and from his earliest years he evinced great 
inclination for piety. After his course of philosophy he entered the 
Order of Regular Canons, which at that period had grown very re- 
laxed. It required then money and influence to be received into the 
order, but God permitted that Peter should be admitted without 
either into the abbey of Chaumonse)\ It may easily be understood 
that his regularity of life excited against him numberless persecutions 
on the side of those for whom his conduct was a reproach. However, 
he remained in the midst of these trials until he was thirty years old, 
when, through the influence of his relatives, he was appointed to the 
parish of Mataincourt, a place where religion was almost entirely ne- 
glected. He had been there but a short time when the parish under- 
went a complete change for the better. Finding that the source of 
all the evil lay in the bad education of the children of the place, he 
concluded that it would be a very desirable thing to introduce relig- 
ious men and women, bound by vow, who would undertake to in- 
struct these children gratuitously. Divine Providence came to his 
assistance by bringing him into relation with Alice Le Clerc. 

She assisted at his sermons, but. they produced at first little effect 

upon her heart. It is related that on three consecutive Sundays she 

heard in church the sound of a drum. As she was a great lover of 

ico 




CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME. 



191 



music and dancing she listened very attentively. On the third Sun- 
day she seemed to see a devil beating the drum and a number of 
young people following him. This made such an impression on her 
heart that she at once changed her life and even took a vow of chas- 
tity. She next made a general confession to Father Fourier, and 
placed herself under his direction. Discovering her desire to become 
a religious, he proposed to her several orders in which regular observ- 
ance prevailed. She felt, however, no attraction to any of them, for 
it seemed to her that God required that she should establish a new 
one. Father Fourier at first opposed her design, as every prudent 
priest naturally would, but they both by degrees recognized the 
will of God. Three young women having spontaneously offered to 
join her, the confessor allowed them to live together. She laid the 
foundation of her congregation at Poussey in 1597, and the new Sis- 
ters began to devote themselves to the education of young girls. 

About this time the cardinal of Lorraine and the bishop of Toul, 
Jean de Maillane des Porcelets, authorized by a brief of Gregory XV., 
were working hard at the reform of the Order of Regular Canons in 
France. Father Fourier became the soul of this undertaking. 

Those who embraced the reform separated from the rest of the or- 
der, and placed themselves under the direction of Fourier, thus estab- 
lishing the Congregation of Our Saviour, to which the saintly man gave 
the constitutions he had framed. These reformed religious, as well as 
the Sisters of Notre Dame, undertook the gratuitous instruction of 
children. 

The Sisters soon removed to Mataincourt and established a house, 
of which Alice became Superior. They did not remain long at this 
place, but went to Saint- Mihiel, and took up their abode in a large 
house given to them by Madame d'Apremont, their benefactress. 
They entered into possession of their new dwelling on March 7th, 
1 60 1. The first four Sisters of the congregation were Alice Le 
Clerc, Gante Andre, Jeanne de Louvroir, and Claude Chauvenel, and 
this number soon increased. The austerities they practised during 
the first six years were incredible, and these were augmented by the 
poverty which they endured. They desired to practice perpetual 
abstinence from meat, but the Fathers of the Society of Jesus con- 
vinced Father Fourier that such an austerity would be incompatible 
with the instruction of youth. 

In 1603 Mother Alice began a new foundation at Nancy, and this was 
soon followed by several others. Paul V. approved the institution in 
161 5, allowing the nuns to take solemn vows and observe the enclos- 
ure, but limiting their activity to the education of boarders. A sec- 



192 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ond bull, however, of the following year, permitted them also to teach 
externs. Mother Alice now spent some time with the Ursulines in 
Paris in order to study their method of uniting the enclosure with the 
instruction of externs. 

In 1617 Father Fourier completed the constitutions of the congre- 
gation, and obtained for them the approbation of the bishop of Toul, 
Jean de Maillane des Porcelets. The first Mother received the habit 
at Nancy from the hands of Cardinal de Lenoncourt, on the feast of the 
Presentation of Our Lady. A year after, the Sisters pronounced their 
solemn vows in presence of Blessed Peter Fourier, on December 2d, 
1618. 

Meanwhile the Congregation of Regular Canons of Our Saviour 
had obtained several houses, and it was regularly established by Ur- 
ban VIII. in 1628. Father Fourier had delayed his profession in the 
congregation for fear of being elected General, but in spite of his re- 
luctance he was chosen in 1632 to succeed Father Nicholas Guinet, 
who had filled that office. Blessed Peter Fourier occupied this po- 
sition until his death, which occurred in 1640. He was beatified by 
Benedict XIII. on Jan. 10, 1730. 

At the time when Helyot wrote, that is, about the middle of the sev- 
enteenth century, the Congregation of Notre Dame had increased to 
a great extent, and it possessed more than eighty houses in France, 
Germany, and Saxon} 7 . In several of these monasteries the original 
constitutions of Blessed Peter Fourier had been modified. 

The Sisters of this congregation follow the rule of St. Augustine 
and wear a black habit. Some class them among the Regular Canon- 
esses. The object of their institute is similar to that of the Ursulines, 
namely, the gratuitous instruction of young girls. They recite the 
Office of the Blessed Virgin, and fast on certain prescribed days of the 
year. 

A branch of the Congregation of Notre Dame, founded by Blessed 
Peter Fourier, exists in the United States in a most flourishing condi- 
tion. It came originally from Bavaria, where the order had been 
suppressed during the period of the Napoleonic wars. It was resusci- 
tated in 1833 by the saintly Bishop Michael Wittman and the Rev. 
Sebastian Job, confessor to the Empress Caroline of Austria. It as- 
sumed, like the Congregation of Blessed Peter Fourier, the rule of 
St. Augustine, and for its domestic arrangements the constitutions of 
the Blessed Founder, while in its external relations it resembled the 
Sisters of Charity. Its first mother-house was at Neuburg Vorn 
Wald in the Regenkreis, birth-place of Sebastian Job, who had estab- 
lished it with his own means. In 1841 the mother-house was removed 



CON GREG A T10N OF NOTRE DAME. 



193 



to Munich, the capital of Bavaria, where it still exists. The constitu- 
tions of Blessed Peter Fourier were followed until 1859, when distinct 
and proper constitutions were given to it, which were approved for 
six years by Pius IX., on July 13, 1859, aR d definitely on Aug. 26, 1865. 
By decree of March 20, 1880, His Holiness, Leo XIII., sanctioned cer- 
tain modifications for the work of the congregation in the United 
States. The Institution bears the title of " Congregation of Poor 
School-Sisters of Notre Dame." 

The re-establishment of the School-Sisters of Notre Dame in southern 
Germany is thus related in a memoir which is in possession of the 
author of this work. There had existed a convent of the Congregation 
of Notre Dame at Stadtamhoff, which was suppressed in the year 1809. 
The saintly Michael Wittman, who was then in charge of the church of 
that place, and who had been for a time extraordinary confessor to the 
Sisters, deeply grieved at the suppression, continued the school under 
the direction of one of the former Sisters and several young girls. This 
tried and faithful teacher, Caroline Gerhardinger, was destined by 
Divine Providence to effect the transition of the Consrresfatioii of Notre 
Dame into the later Institute of School- Sisters of Notre Dame. Hav- 
ing become bishop-elect of Ratisbon, Michael Wittman labored hard 
to establish a community, but it was only shortly before his death that 
he beheld his wish about to be fulfilled. On his death-bed he recom- 
mended the affair to Rev. Mathias Siegert, who promised to devote his* 
life and labors to its accomplishment, and who faithfully kept his word ;. 
for he remained the benefactor of the Sisters until his death in 1879. 
Through, the liberality of Father Sebastian Job the community was 
finally established atNeuburg Vorn Wald. Caroline Gerhardinger, in< 
religion Mother Teresa, died on Aug. 9, 1879. 

This congregation was introduced into the United States in 1847.. 
"On the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, July 31, 1847, s i x ladies in 
plain secular dress landed in New York from the steamer ' Washing- 
ton,' after its first trip across the Atlantic. They were the first School- 
Sisters of Notre Dame, coming from their mother-house in Munich, 
the capital of Bavaria. Two of them, the Venerable Mother-General 
M. Theresa of Jesus, and Sister M. Emmanuela, a novice and the 
Mother's companion, were to return to Europe; the. other four had 
been selected, upon their own free choice, to remain in x\merica^ 
These were Sisters M. Seraphina, M. Magdalena, M. Barbara, and M. 
Caroline, the latter the youngest of them all, but destined to be for 
forty-two years a Mother and Superioress whose equal is not often 
found in any community. All have gone to their reward, Sister Em- 
manuela dying only a few days after their arrival in the new worlds 



194 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



at Harrisburg, Pa., on their way to St. Mary's, Elk County, Pa., their 
first destination in this country. 

" The School- Sisters had been invited to America by the learned and 
zealous Michael O'Connor, D. D., first bishop of Pittsburg, Pa., at the 
request of the Redemptorist Fathers. On the feast of the Assump- 
tion, Aug. 15, 1847, ^ fter a long and tedious journey from New York 
by rail, stage, canal boat, and wagon, the little band of pioneer School- 
Sisters reached St. Mary's in the dense forests of Pennsylvania. • Here 
the Redemptorists had established one of their missions, expecting it to 
grow into a large congregation and a strong centre for their mission- 
ary work in the country around. In this, however, they were entirely 
disappointed, the site for the settlement not having been well chosen. 
To the keen eye of Mother Theresa it was clear at first sight that St. 
Mary's was not the place for a permanent location of her community, 
least of all for its mother-house in America, as the Fathers had intended 
it to be. Therefore in a quiet but determined way she began at once 
to look for a more suitable location. 

" With the assistance of Very Rev. John N. Neumann, then Superior 
of the Redemptorists, later on bishop- of Philadelphia, and now a can- 
didate for canonization, she selected Baltimore as the location of the 
future mother-house.- Leaving three Sisters in charge of the mission 
at St. Mary's, she took Sister Caroline to Baltimore, where she secured 
a house near St. James' church, Aisquith Street, the present mother- 
house ol the eastern province. This was in October, 1847. She took 
charge of St. James' parish school, and having her staff of teachers 
reinforced by eleven Sisters who arrived in Baltimore, March 25, 1848, 
she soon opened also the schools of St. Alphonsus' and St. Michael's 
parishes. 

" When the success of the Sisters' work in Baltimore became known, 
invitations from various parts of the country began to pour in upon 
them. It soon became an acknowledged fact that the School-Sisters 
were a corps of able, well-trained teachers, following a regular method 
of instruction in a carefully-arranged plan of studies. In connection 
with the ordinary school branches they gave a thorough training in 
sewing, crocheting, embroidery, and other branches of useful knowl- 
edge, which were quickly appreciated by the parents of their pupils. 
Their deficiency in English they supplied conscientiously by engaging 
the services of competent young ladies, many of whom soon joined their 
order and studying the language under their direction, so that in a 
comparatively short time they were highly esteemed as a body of 
teachers in every way accomplished and efficient. 

" Mother Theresa, seeing the favorable impression made by her Sis- 



CONG REG A TION OF NOTRE DA ME. 



195 



ters, resolved to make a personal inspection of the places already of- 
fered and likely to be offered to them. On this important tour she took 
with her young Sister Caroline, whose extraordinary abilities became 
daily more evident. The saintly Father Neumann volunteered to act 
as guide and protector on the long and laborious journey. Towards 
the end of April, 1848, after a most successful public examination of St. 
Alphonsus' school, the little party set out from Baltimore for Pitts- 
burg, where arrangements for the opening of a school were made with 
Bishop O'Connor. From Pittsburg they came west to Detroit and to 
Milwaukee ; on their w~ay back to Baltimore they stopped again at 
Detroit, after which they visited Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and 
Philadelphia. To Milwaukee they came upon the urgent invitation of 
its first bishop, the lamented John Martin Henni. Before their arrival, 
however, the bishop had had to leave for Europe, in consequence of 
which no definite arrangements for the establishment of a house in the 
young city could be made. On the last day of June they arrived in Balti- 
more, and soon Mother Theresa started on her home journey to Europe, 
never to see America again. As Superioress of the American com- 
munity she appointed the senior Sister, Mother M. Seraphina, but the 
management of the already-existing and the foundationof future schools 
she placed in the hands of Sister Caroline, though she was not yet 24 
years old. This was in July, 1848. 

" As already indicated, Bishop Henni was particularly anxious to se- 
cure the School-Sisters for his new diocese (erected in 1844). The 
ambition of the energetic bishop was to have them establish their 
American mother-house in his episcopal city. On his way to Rome 
he arrived at Munich before Mother Theresa returned from America. 
At once he began to plead his cause so well with Archbishop Reisach 
— later on cardinal and cardinal-protector of the Sisters — King Louis 
I., their generous patron, and Father Siegert, the Spiritual Director 
of the mother-house, that upon the return of the Mother-General the 
matter was quicklv decided in Bishop Henni's favor, 

" Accordingly instructions were sent to Baltimore directing Sister 
Caroline to go to Milwaukee. However, before carrying out these 
instructions, she was sent to Europe by her Superior, Mother M. Ser- 
aphina, to settle a very important question concerning the " enclosure " 
(clausura) of the order. Experience showed that the peculiar circum- 
stances of America required a considerable modification of the rule 
on this point, it the order was not to be hampered in many ways. The 
rule, as it then stood, required the church, school, and convent build- 
ings to be so connected with each other, or at least so near each other 
that the Sisters would not have to leave their enclosure in order to. 



196 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fulfil their duties towards the children in the school, or to satisfy their 
own. spiritual wants in church. In Europe, with its large number of 
old, spacious convents, this restriction certainly worked well, but 
here in America it proved to be a grave obstacle to the extension of 
the Sisters' work. Not even the largest parishes could have furnished 
such accommodations as this point of rule would have necessitated. ■ It 
would seem, then, that the decision of this question were an easy mat- 
ter, if the Sisters intended to stay and spread their work in this coun- 
try. Still, as religious are naturally and justly tenacious of their rule, 
a diversity of opinion arose among them, some believing it better to 
accept only such few places as would suit the requirements of the 
rule, even though the growth of the order would be very slow, others 
judging that the educational wants of the country fully warranted the 
modification in question. What embarrassed the Sisters still further 
was the fact that their spiritual advisers also differed widely on the 
matter. In the mother-house at Munich Sister Caroline found the 
same difference of opinion ; nevertheless she fully succeeded in ob- 
taining the absolutely necessary modifications. 

•"The impression she made on her superiors was so favorable that 
they concluded to place her at the head of the whole community in 
America, in spite of her own strong remonstrances against the ap- 
pointment. By a decree of Oct. 10, 1850, she was named ' Vicar-Gen- 
eral ' of America, and directed after her return to Baltimore to go 
directly to Milwaukee and establish the mother-house in Bishop 
Henni's episcopal see. Thus it was that the principai seat of the or- 
der was transferred from the east to the west. 

"On Dec. 14, 1850, Mother Caroline, then a little over twenty-six 
years old, arrived at Milwaukee, accompanied by Sisters M. Emman- 
uelaand M. Aloysia (sisters to each other), Sister M. Zita, and one can- 
didate. Of these only Sister Zita survives, the revered senior of the 
mother-house. With money donated by King Louis, Bishop Henni 
had bought a house for the Sisters at the southwest corner of Knapp 
and Milwaukee streets. Though small, it had four large chimneys, and 
therefore was generally known as the house with the four chimneys. 
It had belonged to a Presbyterian minister, and stands to-day, though 
entirely absorbed in the huge pile of buildings called Notre Dame 
Convent. As the Sisters arrived a few days before the bishop had 
expected them, they found their new home not yet ready for occupa- 
tion. The kind Sisters of Charity offered their hospitality, which 
Mother Caroline gratefully accepted and remembered to her dying 
day. Mother Caroline, with that wonderful pluck and energy which 
afterwards made her so famous and successful, began at once, on the 



CONG REG A TION OF NO TEE DA ME. 



197 



very day of her arrival, to fix and furnish her new little convent. 
One of its few rooms she arranged for a chapel, and on Christmas eve 
the whole house was ready for the bishop's blessing. On Christmas 
day he celebrated the second of his three High Masses in the sanctuary 
of the happy community, and the Congregation of the School-Sisters 
of Notre Dame was fairly started in its career of faithful and efficient 
work in the great cause of education. From the smallest beginnings, 
both east and west, it has grown into one of the foremost teaching 
orders of the union — in fact the very largest order exclusively devoted 
to teaching, 

" On the second day of January, 185 1, Mother Caroline opened the 
first parish school of the order in the west, at St. Mary's church, of 
which Dr. Salzmann was the rector. Bishop Henni urging her to 
build a, select day-school, she had at once, in spite of her extreme pov- 
erty , began to build an addition to the small convent, along Knapp street. 
The select school was given in charge of Sister Emmanuela, a niece 
of the celebrated Canon Schmidt, famous as a writer of beautiful tales 
and stories for young people. Sister Emmanuela was a most accom- 
plished Sister and lady, to whom the first families of Milwaukee soon 
began to send their daughters. The Juneaus, Furlongs, Hathaways, 
Flynns, Baasens, Hoffs, and many others frequented this first day- 
school, the forerunner of St. Mary's Day and High School on Jeffer- 
son street and Ogden avenue, which in its long course of existence has 
given a Christian and solid useful education to thousands of young 
ladies of Milwaukee. For pupils from afar St. Mary's Institute was 
opened as a boarding-school. The growth of these schools, together 
with the constant increase of the religious community, obliged Moth- 
er Caroline, especially during the first fifteen years of her work in 
Milwaukee, constantly to acquire property and extend the buildings, 
until Notre Dame -Convent became <3ne of the largest in the land, 
covering three sides of one entire block on "St. Mary's Hill," as the 
Sisters reverently called it. The hill was rather a wilderness in the 
midst of the young city when the Sisters began to occupy the two lots 
of it on which " the house of the four chimneys" stood. It was still a 
"forest primeval," dotted with a few small frame houses, separated 
from each other by knolls and ravines. Its rugged surface lay so high 
over the street level that 16,000 loads of dirt had to be carted away 
in order to get the present convent-garden fairly level. When Mil- 
waukee street was graded, the convent buildings looked as if they were 
suspended in the air. In spite of these expensive* difficulties, Mother 
Caroline was determined that " St. Mary's on the Hill " should be- 
come forever the mother-house, though other sites on which suitable 



198 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



buildings could have been reared with less expense were offered her 
in and near the city. The present beauty and fitness of the location 
of the mother-house, right in the heart of the city, and still remote from 
its noise and tumult, clearly shows the correctness of her judgment. 
Taking into consideration that the period during which " St. Mary's 
Hill" was acquired, lot for lot, and gradually built upon, was a time 
of great poverty for the order, one cannot but admire the indomitable 
pluck and energy of Mother Caroline and her young community. It 
is but fair, however, to add that the business men of the city, the 
late Alexander Mitchell at their head, were always ready, by loans, to 
help the School-Sisters in bridging over their financial difficulties. 
The able and careful manner in which they managed their temporal 
affairs gained for them the fullest confidence of the public. 

."In the year 1887 St. Mary's Institute was closed; this year (1892) 
witnessed also the closing of St. Mary's Day and High School, leaving 
the convent doors open only to pupils of the music and art depart- 
ments. Of the boarding-pupils there remain only the aspirants, that 
is, pupils who show signs of a religious vocation and express their 
desire to become members of the order, though they are by no means 
obliged to do so. The closing of these two well-patronized schools 
caused considerable surprise and regret, as also some unfavorable com- 
ment. It would be entirely incorrect, and not a little injurious to the 
Sisters to charge this action to a spirit of independence on their part, 
as if they had closed their schools because they did not care for the 
patronage of their friends any more. It is true, after forty years of hard 
workand careful management the School-Sisters are over their financial 
distresses; still as it is not their vocation, nor ever has been or ever will be 
their ambition, to make money, they are to the present day not in a con- 
dition to be indifferent about a suitable remuneration for their services. 
An entirely different reason prompted them, five years ago, to close St. 
Mary's Institute, and caused Mother Caroline on her death-bed to 
direct also the closing of St. Mary's Day and High School. This 
reason was: want of room. The growth of the sisterhood has been so 
great that accommodations are needed for one hundred candidates, 
one hundred novices, and, above all, for a ver}- great number of Sisters. 
The mother-house is not only the training-school of the young relig- 
ious, but it must also afford a good, comfortable home for those Sis- 
ters who have worked for years in the hard field of their vocation, 
growing old and feeble in their missionary work. As their number 
increases from year to year, it is simply a matter of justice and charity 
to give them a good home in their declining days, even though such an 
arrangement is attended with considerable pecuniary loss to the order. 



CONG REG A TION OF NO TRE DA ME. 



199 



" The growth of the community has been great, indeed, a real 
source of gratitude for all those interested in the order. In 1850, 
when the Sisters came to Milwaukee, the congregation had about 
thirty members, with hardly 1,000 children in their charge. Never, 
during these forty-two years, has there been any recruiting from 
Europe; all the members of the congregation have entered here 
in America. Hardly had the Sisters established themselves in Mil- 
waukee w T hen candidates from many parts of the country began to 
flock to the convent on ' St. Mary's Hill' The cities of Baltimore, 
Pittsburg, New York, Buffalo, Rochester, and other eastern cities fur- 
nished a large contingent; New Orleans and Louisville sent a goodly 
number. When the west began to develop, especially since the be- 
ginning of the Sisters, the states of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, 
and Michigan did not remain behind Wisconsin in sending many of 
their daughters to the ' Notre Dames.' At present the congregation 
numbers over 2,000 Sisters and novices, whilst more than 300 candi- 
dates are passing through their first probation for admission into the 
order. This growth of the religious community presupposes a cor- 
responding increase in the sphere of its work. From seven houses 
in 1850, — three in Baltimore, and one each in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, 
Buffalo, and Milwaukee, — the number of houses in 1876 was ninety- 
six. In the year 1876 the whole congregation was divided into an 
eastern province (Baltimore) and a western province (Milwaukee). 
A further sub-division of the western province is now under contem- 
plation. At present the eastern province numbers 50, and the western 
province 153 houses. 

Of the 200 houses of the order, by far the greater number are de- 
voted to parochial school-work. Almost 70,000 children frequent 
these schools, which are distributed among the following dioceses: In 
the east, Baltimore, eighteen; Pittsburg, two; Philadelphia, four; 
New York, six; Buffalo, one; Rochester, six; Newark, two; Trenton, 
one; Boston, three. In the west: Milwaukee, thirty-six; La Crosse, 
eleven; Green Bay, twenty-one; Detroit, three; Grand Rapids, three; 
Marquette, two; New Orleans, two; Natchez, two; Mobile, one; St. 
Louis, fourteen; Belleville, five; Alton, nine; Chicago, eleven; Peoria, 
three; Dubuque, two; Davenport, three; Louisville, two; Fort Wayne, 
four; Winona, seven; St. Paul, fifteen; and Hamilton, Canada, eight. 
In their select day and boarding-schools the Sisters have about 2,000 
pupils. The principal boarding-schools are: Govanstown, near Balti- 
more ; Fort Lee, N. J.; Quincy, 111.; Longwood, near Chicago; Prairie 
du Chien, and Marinette, Wis. A large and warm place in the work 
of the order is held by the orphan asylums, of which the two largest 



200 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



are in New Orleans and New York. In the New York asylum alone 
over 600 children are cared for. Upon the request of the Most Rev. 
Archbishop of New Orleans, the Sisters this year took charge of the 
deaf mute institute of his diocese at Chinchubah, La. 

" The religious community of the School-Sisters is of a truly cosmo- 
politan character, as American as it is Catholic. Our country's motto 
i E pluribus unum,' finds an admirable illustration in this sisterhood and 
its work. For though of German origin, and principally composed of 
German-American members, it contains also a good number of Ameri- 
cans, Irish, and Poles, with a little sprinkling of French, Dutch, and 
Bohemians. The greatest number of its schools belong to German- 
American parishes; though also some of the largest and most impor- 
tant English parishes have their schools conducted by the School- 
Sisters, viz. : — The Cathedral of Baltimore, Our Lady of Perpetual 
Help, Boston; St. Mary's, Maiden, Mass.; St. Gall's and Holy Name, 
Milwaukee ; St. Patrick's, Peoria ; St. Stephen's, Steven's Point ; Our 
Lady of Lourdes, Marinette ; the Cathedral of Winona, and many 
others. Quite a number of applications from English pastors had to 
be declined for want of subjects. The government of the congregation 
is in the hands of a Commissary-General, with her four assistants. 
This Commissariate is elected for a term of six years. All professed 
Sisters of the teaching grade have a vote in this election. The whole 
congregation is divided into districts. All the voting Sisters in each 
district choose one chapter-sister. These chapter-sisters, together 
with the provincials and their assistants, elect the Commissary-General 
and her assistants. The last election was held Nov. 12, for the purpose 
of choosing a successor to the lamented Mother Caroline. The elec- 
tion is done by strictly private ballot, and its results have to be con- 
firmed by the Mother-General and the Cardinal-Protector. 

" At the head of each province there is a Mother-Provincial, elected, 
with her two assistants, by the Sisters of the respective provinces for 
the term of three years. 

" The Milwaukee house, being the headquarters of the Commissary- 
General, whose government extends through the whole order, is the 
principal mother-house. v 

" This rapid sketch would be still more incomplete if the writer did 
not add a word concerning her who spent forty-two years of her life 
and all of her extraordinary qualities of mind and heart in rearing the 
Congregation of the School-Sisters from its small beginning to its 
present prosperity — the late Mother Caroline, first Commissary-Gen- 
eral of the order. It seems next to impossible to overrate her merits, 
for it is exceedingly difficult to find a person that had greater clear- 



CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME. 



201 



ness of mind, energy of will, love of heart, nobility of character, 
ability of government to bestow upon a great cause, such as the 
formation of a great religious community certainly is, and bestowed 
them as entirely and generously as Mother Caroline has done. The 
eulogies spoken and written in her honor on the occasion of her death, 
only five months ago, are still fresh in the hearts of thousands all 
over the land; her memory will never die, certainly not in the hearts 
of her daughters. They will forever continue to thank Divine Provi- 
dence for having given them a Mother Caroline, so eminently quali- 
fied to put the vast structure of their order on such solid foundations, 
that though deprived of her guidance, at once so firm and gentle, 
so courageous and wise, they look with confidence into the future 
of their congregation. The work of a Mother Caroline, so able, so 
good, so saintly, cannot but be the work of God, and therefore sure 
of His further blessing and protection. 1 " 

P. M. A. in " The Catholic Citizen," December 24, 1892. 



P/VRT IV. 



MILITARY ORDERS. 



Knights of Malta. 



THE CRUSADES. — HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN.— ORGANIZATION OF THE OR- 
DER. — WARS AGAINST THE INFIDELS.— RHODES. — FOULQUES DE VIL- 
LARET. — ZIZIMUS. — MALTA. — LEPANTO. — EXPULSION OF THE JES- 
UITS.— FALL OF MALTA. — PRESENT CONDITION OF THE ORDER.— NUNS. 

ABOUT the time of the crusades, when all Europe felt within itself a 
spontaneous movement that urged it onward to the conquest of the 
land that had been watered by the sweat and blood of the Redeemer, 
there arose within the Church religious orders which combined the 
military spirit and the use of arms with the practise of the evangelical 
counsels. The Order of Mercy, which we placed among the Canons 
Regular, was in reality a mixed order, especially during the first cen- 
turies of its existence, as it consisted not only of ecclesiastics, but 
also of knights who pledged themselves to the defence of the faith by 
force of arms. One of the oldest of these orders of knighthood is the 
one which forms the subject of the present chapter. 

Its first name was that of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, and 
its origin was humble. About the year 1048 certain merchants of 
the city of Amalfi, in the kingdom of Naples, who were wont to traffic 
in Syria and to visit the holy places in Jerusalem, were desirous of 
obtaining a church where the divine office might be celebrated ac- 
cording to the Latin rite, as the other Christian churches in the east 
were in possession of the Greeks and of various other sects. By tact 
and by means of presents they gained the favor of the caliph of 
Egypt, Romensor of Mustesaph, who permitted them to build a church 
in Jerusalem in the Christian quarters before the church of the Holy 
Sepulchre. They dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin, and founded with 
it a monastery of the Order of St. Benedict, the monks of which were 
destined to take charge of the pilgrims. This church was called St. 
Mary's of the Latins. Later on a hospital was built near the same 
church for the reception of male pilgrims, and a chapel was founded 

202 



KNIGHTS OF MA L TA . 



203 



in honor of St. John the Baptist. The revenues of the hospital hav- 
ing in course of time greatly increased, the Brothers Hospitallers sep- 
arated from the abbot and the religious of the monastery of St. Mary 
of the Latins, and formed a distinct congregation in honor of St. John 
Baptist. From this time forward they were called Hospitallers, or 
Brothers of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The director of 
the hospital, a certain Gerard, obtained from Pascal II., by a bull of 
1 1 13, the confirmation of the donations that had been made to the in- 
stitution. By the same bull the hospital was placed under the protec- 
tion of the Holy See, and it was decreed that the rectors should be 
elected by the brethren. 

The successor of Gerard, Raymond du Puy, gave the brethren their 
first rule, and obliged them to take the three solemn vows of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience. In virtue of this rule the religious were for- 
bidden to go out alone. They abstained from meat on Wednesdays 
and Saturdays, and also from Septuagesima until Easter. Various 
punishments were prescribed for trangessions against the vows and 
the rule. A public sin against chastity was punished by a scourging, to 
which the guilty one was subjected in presence of the assembled breth- 
ren, and by dismissal from the order. Suffrages for the departed 
were also prescribed by this rule, which was approved by Calixtus II. 
in 1 1 20, and confirmed by Honorius II., Innocent II., Eugene III., Lu- 
cius III., Clement III., Innocent III., Boniface VIII., and other Sov- 
ereign Pontiffs. As several points of the rule were taken from that of 
St Augustine, the Order of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem has 
always been classified among the religious who follow the rule of 
that saint. 

Raymond, considering that the revenues of the order far surpassed 
its necessities, decided to use the surplus for the expenses of the war 
which was being carried on against the infidels, and moreover offered 
his religions to the king of Jerusalem to bear arms in defence of the 
faith. He now divided those under his jurisdiction into three classes, 
consisting of the nobles who were destined to bear arms in defence of 
the faith and for the protection of pilgrims, the priests who were to 
perform clerical functions in the conventual church, and the brother- 
servants, not noble, who were also to bear arms. They still con- 
tinued to be known by the name of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, 
and did not receive that of Knights until after the conquest of the 
island of Rhodes. They finally obtained the title of Knights of Malta 
when that island was given to them by Charles V. The first proof of 
valor they gave was when, under the command of their Grand-Master, 
Raymond, they defended Baudouin II. against the Caliph of Egypt. 



204 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



They several times after this fought valiantly for the same monarch 
and for his successor, Baudouin III. By the favor of princes the 
order continued to increase in wealth, and by that of the popes in 
privileges. The patriarch of Jerusalem and the other bishops of Pal- 
estine were nevertheless opposed to it from the fact of its having been 
exempted from their jurisdiction, and in consequence of this these prel- 
ates resisted these religious in every respect. The differences between 
the bishops and the Hospitallers went even so far that the latter had 
recourse to arms. To the great dissatisfaction of the patriarch and 
the bishops, the court of Rome upheld the Hospitallers, and refused 
to withdraw the privileges which had been granted them. 

Raymond du Puy, after governing his order for 42 years, during 
which he had led its religious to many a glorious battle, died in 1160. 
After his death these chivalrousmen continued to devote their energies 
to the same cause, uniting their forces to France, Spain, and the Republic 
of Venice. After the fall of Jerusalem their convent and hospital 
were transferred to Margat, in Phenicia, which they lost in 1285. In 
1293 the convent and hospital were removed to Ptolomais, or Acre,, 
almost the only city that remained in the power of the Christians. 
When Ptolomais had also surrendered, the Hospitallers and their 
Grand-Master retreated to the island of Cyprus, where the king, 
Henry de Lusignan, gave them the city of Limisson. Andronicus, the 
Byzantine emperor, having conferred the investiture of the island of 
Rhodes, then in possession of the Saracens, upon Foulques de Villaret, 
Grand-Master of the order, the Pope, Clement V., confirmed this act, 
and furnished the means to ensure its execution. Foulques captured 
it on August 15, 1309. From this period the Hospitallers assumed 
the title of Knights of Rhodes. 

About the same time the Knights of the Order of St. Sampson of 
Constantinople and of Corinth were united with that of St. John of 
Jerusalem. Not long after this event' serious disturbances arose with- 
in the bosom of the order itself. His great successes had filled the 
heart of the Grand-Master, Villaret, with pride, and taking a despotic 
turn in the government of his religious, he rendered himself odious to 
them, so that they even made an attempt to seize him. On his retreat- 
ing to the castle of Lindo, the Knights laid siege to it. They after- 
wards held a chapter, before which they cited him, He refused to be 
present and appealed to the Pope. Hereupon they deposed him and 
elected Maurice of Pegnac in his stead. The Sovereign Pontiff now des- 
patched commissaries to Rhodes to investigate the matter, and cited 
both Grand-Masters to appear before him, appointing, at the same time, 
Gerard of Pins as Vicar-General of the order. 



KNIGHTS OF MA LTA . 



205 



The Mahometans, beholding these divisions among the Knights, at- 
tempted to recapture the island of Rhodes, but they were repulsed 
with great loss by the quick action of the Vicar-General. After the 
death of Maurice of Pegnac, which occurred a short'time later, Foulques 
of Villaret was re-instated in his office by Clement V., but he resigned 
two years later. 

From this time until the year 1482 Rhodes was at various intervals 
besieged by the infidels, but always unsuccessfully. A division among 
their enemies gave a long period of rest to the Knights. Bajazet and 
Zizimus, or Zain, sons of Mahomet II., were engaged in war against 
each other. The latter, being the weaker of the two, placed himself 
under the protection of the Grand-Master of Rhodes, who received him 
as a king. This obliged Bajazet to make peace with the order, and 
even to become its tributary. The Knights of Rhodes, having thus 
become the custodians of the person of Zizimus, transferred him to 
Pope Innocent VIII., their benefactor, on condition that Knights of 
Rhodes should always remain with him. The Mussulman prince was 
received at Rome with all the honors due to his rank. Alexander VI., 
successor of Innocent, began his pontificate with what we may call an 
act of treachery towards the Knights, of whom as Cardinal he had 
been the protector. He seized upon the person of Zizimus, and im- 
prisoned him in the castle Sant Angelo, in charge of his nephews, 
one of whom was a Knight of Rhodes. The pretext for this arbitrary 
act was the protection of the person of the prince. The Pope af- 
terwards granted Zizimus to Charles VIII., king of France, but the un- 
fortunate prince died a few days after, with the suspicion of having 
been poisoned. His death was the signal for fresh assaults on the side 
of the Mahometans, and the war between them and the Knights be- 
gan again. A league was formed among Christian princes under the 
presidency of the Grand-Master, but divisions among the Christians, 
to which the Pope himself contributed by favoring the party of Spain, 
frustrated its object. 

After a series of victories, and having been in possession of Rhodes 
for 213 years, the Knights were finally forced to surrender it to Soliman 
II., on December 24, 1522. They had been betrayed by one of their 
own number, Andrew of Amaral, who was greatly incensed for not 
having been elected Grand-Master. His treachery was discovered, 
and he suffered the penalty, being decapitated before the surrender of 
the island. With Rhodes a bulwark of Christendom had fallen. 

A few years after this loss the order obtained from the Emperor 
Charles V. the gift of the island of Malta. This was in 1530. 

From this period dates the title of Knights of Malta, which they have- 



206 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



borne to the present day. The island was more than once unsuccess- 
fully attacked by the Turks, but the battle of Lepanto gave a crushing 
blow to the power of the Crescent. In this famous naval engagement 
the Knights of Malta acquired fresh laurels, nor did Moslem ever have 
to encounter such determined antagonists as these men. To their 
credit it must be stated that in the midst of the din of battles, they re- 
mained faithful to their primitive institution, and continued to practise 
the hospitality for which they had been founded. They fed the poor, 
attended to the sick, buried the dead, and even took charge of found- 
lings. 

The order lost by degrees most of its possessions, until in the eighteenth 
century it retained the sovereign possession only of the island of Mal- 
ts., which was entirely subject to the Grand-Master of the order, who 
exercised the authority of a monarch over the entire island and its de- 
pendencies. Moreover, he had jurisdiction over the Knights of the en- 
tire order, who were bound to obey in all that was not contrary to the 
rule and the statutes. 

The order was divided into various languages, according to the dif- 
ferent nationalities to which its members belonged. In the last cen- 
tury it possessed eight languages, or provinces, namely : Provence, Au- 
vergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Germany, and Castile. Each language 
had its chief or superior at Malta. The chief of the language of Pro- 
vence was grand-commander, the one at the head of the language of 
Auvergne, grand-marshal, and the chief of the language of France was 
grand-hospitaller. The office of grand-admiral was rilled by the 
Italian; that of general of infantry had before the Reformation been 
exercised by the English chief. Each language was divided into grand- 
priories. It appears that a strict regular observance was constantly 
kept up by the Knights of Malta, and we suppose that their military 
discipline and constant activity contributed no little hereunto, as much, 
perhaps, as a life of great monotony may have been the occasion of 
relaxation in certain orders. The novitiate was made at Malta, with 
the exception of the Germans, who made their novitiate with the 
grand-prior of Germany, while the Bohemians were obliged to make 
-a novitiate of only six months at Malta. The habit and the order of 
Knighthood were received with great ceremony. After their profes- 
sion the Knights were obliged to wear either on or beneath their outer 
garments a white cross, made of cloth, with eight points, which is the 
distinctive badge of the order. 
During the eighteenth century the Order of Malta rendered great ser- 
•-. vice to Christianity by the liberation ol many captives and by its victories 
over the Algerian pirates. But the order had also its weaknesses. Be- 



KNIGHTS OF MALTA. 



207 



sides several acts of its members in France which were not edifying, 
we mention that in 1768 the Grand-Master, acting under the influence 
of fear, banished from Malta the Society of Jesus, which had already 
been proscribed by France, Spain, and the kingdom of the two Sicilies. 
Their own ^expulsion followed soon after, and it was the treachery of 
some of the Knights which contributed hereunto. In 1798 Bonaparte 
invaded the island. Several of the Knights, unfaithful to their duty, 
caused the island to capitulate. Thus did Malta, which had withstood 
the fiercest assaults of the Mahometans, fall into the hands of a Chris- 
tian. Ferdinand Von Hompesch, the Grand-Master, who by his weak- 
ness had let things follow their course, could only submit. His 
cringing humility in presence of the conqueror did not save his order, 
which now beheld its last day on the island whose name it bore. At 
first he protested against the capitulation, but it was too late. A few 
months later, ceding to the instances of the court of Vienna, he abdicat- 
ed in favor of Paul L, the schismatical emperor of Russia. At the 
death of the latter, in 1801, his successor, Alexander, nominated Field- 
Marshal, Count Soltikoff, as lieutenant of the mastery. A council of 
the Knights was held at St. Petersburg, and the nomination of a Grand- 
Master was left to the Pope, who appointed John de Tommasi. This 
Grand-Master resided until his death in Catania, Sicily, and when he 
died, in 1805, the Pope refused to appoint a Grand-Master, but named 
Guevera Luardo as lieutenant. The order continued to be governed 
by lieutenants, who resided first at Catania, then at Ferrara, and finally 
in Rome until, in 1879, Leo XIII. appointed Giovanni Battista Ceschi 
Grand- Master. In the years 1826 and '27 three instruments of conven- 
tion were signed by the languages of France, with the consent of those 
of Spain and Portugal, authorizing a re-organization of the language of 
England. In pursuance of this convention, on January 29th, 1831, a 
chapter of the Knights then forming the English language was held, 
at which an envoy-extraordinary of the continental languages was pres- 
ent. Sir Robert Peat was elected grand-prior of England, and the 
language w r as regularly organized, which, however, the authorities of 
the order at Rome refused to recognize as an integral part of the 
order of St. John. 1 

The property of the order has in many countries been in part 
restored, and in some, as Bohemia, it was never confiscated. At Vi- 
enna an ambassador and a secretary of legation belonging to the order 
have continued to exist. . 

About the same time that the Order of Hospitallers of St. John of 

1 A History of the Knights of Malta,— Porter. The History of The Holy, Military, Sovereign 
Order of St. John of Jerusalem, — John Taaffe. 



208 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, 



Jerusalem was founded, a similar community was established for 
women. A famous convent of this order was founded by Queen 
Sancha, daughter of Alfonso, king of Castile. In 1470 it withdrew 
from the jurisdiction of the Grand-Master, and became immediately 
subject to the Holy See. The order was reformed in France by 
the saintly Mother Galliotte de Gourdon Genouillac Vaillac, of the. 
monastery of Beaulieu. She was born in 1589. 



KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 



FOUNDATION. — COUNCIL OF TROYA. — ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE OR- 
DER. — PHILIP LE BEL. — TRIALS. — JACQUES DE MO LAI. — SUP- 
PRESSION. 

THIS order, which ended in a most tragic manner, and concerning 
which history has probably not yet pronounced its final decision, 
originated at Jerusalem in 1 1 18, a little more than fifty years after the 
foundation of that of the Hospitallers of St. John. Hugh de Paganis, 
Gotfrid de Saint- Amour, and seven others whose names history has 
not recorded, formed among themselves a society for the protection of 
pilgrims against the persecutions of the Mussulmans, for the ensuring 
of safety on the highways, and for the defence of religion. They de- 
cided that in order to devote themselves entirely to these works of 
charity it would be advisable to bind themselves by vow, and for 
this purpose they called on Guarimond, patriarch of Jerusalem, who 
approved of their purpose, and received the three vows of pov- 
erty, chastity, and obedience which they took. Baudouin II., king of 
Jerusalem, beholding their zeal, gave to them, for their temporary 
use, a house near the temple of Solomon, from which they received 
their name of Templars, or Knights of the Warfare of the Temple. 
They afterward removed to a place given to them by the Regular 
Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. As in the beginning they lived on 
alms, they were called the Poor Knights of the Temple. Had they 
always continued to practice the same spirit of poverty, it no doubt 
would have been better for themselves and for the Church ; they might 
have preserved a greater regularity, nor would the covetous eye of 
princes have rested upon their enormous wealth. v 

At the Council of Troya, held in 1128, Hugh de Paganis and five of 
his companions asked and obtained a rule, which was composed for 
them by St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, also present at the council. 
They thus became, in a certain sense, affiliated to the Order of Citeaux. 
After the reception of this rule the Knights assumed a white habit, to 
which Eugene I II., in 1146, added a red cross. Their number and also 
their wealth now increased to a vast extent, but this accumulation 
of riches became their misfortune. They grew so proud that they re- 

209 



210 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fused to submit to the patriarch of Jerusalem, attacked princes, and pil- 
laged indifferently the territories of both Christians and infidels. They 
went so far as to attempt to betray Frederick III. to the Sultan of 
Babylon. The irregularity of their life led to the suppression of the 
order. The immediate cause of this were two of its own members. 
The prior of Montfaucon, in the province of Toulouse, had been con- 
demned by the Grand-Master to perpetual imprisonment on account 
of heresy and for having led a wicked life, and an Italian named Nosso- 
Dei, in punishment of his excesses, had been sentenced by the provost 
of Paris to undergo rigorous chastisements. Both these criminals, in 
order to escape the punishment inflicted upon them, decided to reveal se- 
crets of their order hitherto unknown. Philip le Bel, king of France, al- 
though an enemy of the order, appeared incredulous concerning the enor- 
mous crimes of which the Templars were accused. He spoke of the 
matter to Pope Clement V., who refused to believe in the accusations, 
which the Grand-Master of the order rejected as entirely false. The 
king, instead of waiting a judicial procedure, immediately seized upon 
the persons and goods of the Templars in his kingdom. This dis- 
pleased the Sovereign Pontiff, who, to the dissatisfaction of the king, 
reserved the entire affair to himself. The Pope, being at Poitiers, in- 
terrogated more than seventy members of the order, who all admitted 
the truth of the accusations brought against them. The substance of 
these accusations was : that they obliged all those who entered the 
order to deny Jesus Christ and to spit three times on the crucifix ; 
that they permitted indecencies and unnatural vice, while at the same 
time forbidding intercourse with the female sex, and that they were 
guilty of idolatry. Hereupon the Pope permitted the bishops to pro- 
ceed against the Templars, reserving the sentence against subjects to 
the provincial councils, and procedure against the superiors to the Holy 
See. In each diocese two canons, two Dominicans, and two Fran- 
ciscans were to assist at the process. The king, seeing that the 
processes were neglected, placed the matter in the hands of the in- 
quisitor, William of Paris, a Dominican friar. Most of those inter- 
rogated, including the Grand-Master, Jacques de Molai, pleaded guilty. 
The Pope, having appointed three cardinals to interrogate the accused 
once more, the Grand-Master and other prominent members of the or- 
der admitted that at their reception the Knights denied Jesus Christ 
and spat upon the crucifix. However, the Pope was not satisfied, and 
he believed that there had been too much interference in the matter 
on the part of the secular powers, and as there was question of an 
order which existed not only in France, but throughout Christendom, 
he named other commissaries to begin a new process against the Tern- 



KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 



211 



plars. The commissaries cited the order to appear before them at 
Paris in 1309. The Grand-Master obeyed the summons on November 
22d. He at first played the fool, but, three days later, being asked 
if he desired to defend his order, he replied that it seemed strange 
that they proceeded with such levity against such a great society, while 
sentence against an emperor, Frederick II., had been delayed for thirty- 
two years. Having heard the reading of the confession he had once 
made before the three cardinals deputed by the Pope, he appeared to 
be greatly surprised, and prayed that God would punish the liars who 
thus accused him. Others declared that their confession had been ex- 
torted from them by the fear of death alone. Ponzard of Gyziaco 
offered to defend the order, and requested for his colleagues and coun- 
sellors, Renaud of Orleans and Peter of Boulogne, both priests of the 
order. Seventh-four Templars stated that the accusations brought 
against them were entirely false, that they would present themselves 
before the council if they were set at liberty, and that the brethren who 
had deposed against the order had done so only through fear or 
through bribery. 

The defendants of the order maintained that members received into 
it took the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and that of expos- 
ing their life in the service of the Holy Land, that they were received 
with a fraternal kiss, and that the white habit and red cross were given 
to them, that the rule approved by the Holy Fathers was then shown 
them, and that ail said to the contrary had emanated from false breth- 
ren. This process lasted from 1309 to 131 1, and during that time two 
hundred and thirty-one witnesses were examined. 

Meanwhile particular processes had been at work. The Provincial 
Council of Sens had sentenced several members of the order, some to 
light, and others to severe punishments. Among the latter, many were 
burnt, but they proclaimed their innocence to the end. The Council of 
Ravenna asserted that the order should not be suppressed if the 
greater part was found to be good. At Boulogne it was shown that 
some had led good lives, while in Lombardy and Tuscany the Tem- 
plars were convicted of horrible crimes. In Castile they were all ar- 
rested and their goods siezed upon. Salamanca declared them inno- 
cent and remanded them to the Pope. In England King Edward II. 
caused all the Knights to be apprehended on the same day. Dr. Lingard 
says that if it be fair to judge from the informations taken in England,, 
"however we may condemn a few individuals, we must certainly ac- 
quit the order. " 

In Provence the Templars were all condemned to die. In the king- 
dom of Cyprus they took up arms in their defence, but they finally sub- 



212 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



mitted. In Aragon they defended themselves, but their castles were 
taken. Finally, after these various processes, at the Council of Vienne 
in 131 1, the Bull of condemnation was promulgated, but not in the 
form of a definitive sentence. Their property was transferred to the 
Hospitallers of St. John, with the exception of their goods in Castile, 
Aragon, Portugal, and Mayence, of which the disposition was reserved 
to the Holy See. Jacques Molai and one of his companions were 
burnt, protesting their innocence. Although the goods of the order 
had been given to the Knights of St. John, nevertheless Philip le Bel 
and Ferdinand II. of Castile managed to obtain their share. Thus 
ended the Order of Templars, concerning which the day of judgment 
will have the last word to say. They continued, nevertheless, to exist 
for some time in the diocese of Mayence, while they were propagated 
under different names in various other orders of knighthood. It may, 
perhaps, be admitted that there is a mysterious connection between 
them and certain branches of our modern Freemasonry. 

The Knights Templars had possessed several foundations in Ireland, 
and among others one near Clongall, and a second at Killarge. The lat- 
ter was, after the suppression of the' order, given to the Knights of St. 
John, in whose possession it remained until the Reformation. The 
Templars had also a monastery at Cork. 




THE TEUTONIC ORDER. 



ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. — ITS POWER.— INFLUENCE OF THE GRAND-MAS- 
TER. — PRUSSIA AND LIVONIA. — THE MARQUIS OF BRANDENBURG. — 
PRESENT STATE. 

ACCORDING to Peter of Dusburg, priest of this order, it origi- 
nated in the year 1 190, through the piety of certain persons from the 
cities of Bremen and Lubeck, who at the siege of Acre by the Christians 
converted their tents into a hospital, where they received the sick and 
the wounded, to whom they attended with much charity, and thus 
drew upon themselves the esteem of Henry, king of Jerusalem, of the 
patriarch, of other prelates, and of the Knights of St. John and the 
Templars. Through the influence of these persons and of other dis- 
tinguished men they obtained from Pope Celestin III. the approba- 
tion of their institute as a hospitaller and military order under the rule 
of St. Augustine. They were at the same time commanded to ob- 
serve the statutes of the Knights of St. John in the performance of 
their works of charity, and those of the Templars for their military 
and ecclesiastical affairs. Their habit was to consist of a white man- 
tle and black cross, and they were to partake of the privileges granted 
to the Orders of St. John and of the Temple. 

Other historians believe that the order had been established at Jeru- 
salem before the siege of Acre*. At all events, after the approbation 
of Pope Celestin, it became canonically erected, and its first members, 
forty in number, were solemnly received as Knights at Jerusalem. 
Henry of Walpot was elected first Grand-Master, and the Knights 
assumed the title of Hospitallers of Our Lady of the Germans, as its 
members were to be exclusively of that nationality. Every candidate 
for admission into the order was obliged to swear that he was a Ger- 
man, of a noble and stainless family, that he had never been married, 
that he was resolved to observe chastity all his life, to be subject to 
the rules of the order, to obey the master of the hospital, to consecrate 
himself to the service of God, the sick, the poor, and the defense of the 
Holy Land, and to renounce all property, while the order obliged it- 
self only to give him bread, water, and a habit. In the beginning 
their nourishment consisted of nothing else but bread and water, and 
they slept on beds of straw. 

213 



214 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



After the capture of Acre by the Christians in 1 191, Henry of Wal- 
pot bought land outside of the city and built a church and hospital. 
During his administration the Knights began with marked success 
their wars against the Saracens. 

After the year 12 10, during the government of Herman of Salza 
the fourth Grand-Master, the order grew to be very powerful, subju. 
gated Prussia and Livonia, and rendered itself formidable to its ene- 
mies. The prestige of the Grand-Master was such that he was chosen 
arbiter between Pope Honorius III. and the Emperor Frederick II., 
and in reward for his services the dignity of Prince of the Em- 
pire was conferred upon him and his successors. He was permitted 
to add the imperial eagle to his coat of arms, and in 1250 Saint Louis 
allowed him also to assume the lilies of France. At the time of its 
conquest by the Teutonic Knights, Prussia was inhabited by a barbar- 
ous and idolatrous people. In addition to this territory the order 
also acquired possessions in Sicily, the Romagna, Armenia, Germany, 
and Hungary. 

In 1238 or 1234 the Order of Knighthood of the S word-Bearers, 
founded in 1204 by Albert L, bishop of Livonia, was united to that of 
the Teutonic Knights. In 1291 the order was obliged to abandon 
Palestine, Acre having fallen into the hands of the Mussulmans. The 
city of Marburg in Hessia then became their chief residence until 1306, 
when it was transferred to Prussia. It was not only against the heath- 
en that these Knights bore arms, for until 1341 they were frequent- 
ly engaged in war against the bishops of Livonia, who endeavored to 
exercise authority over them. Several misdeeds were also imputed 
to them, so that the Pope appointed a commission to investigate these 
charges. 

In 1 5 10 Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, was elected Grand-Master 
to the misfortune of the order, for having afterwards embraced the 
heresy of Luther, he drove from Prussia the Knights who had re- 
mained faithful to the Church, took possession of the goods of the 
order, gave up his dignity of Grand-Master, and violating his vow of 
celibacy, married Dorothy, daughter of the Danish king. It is re- 
markable that the flag of Prussia is white with a black cross, the habit 
of the Teutonic Knights. After this event the Knights of Livonia 
separated from those of the Teutonic order. Their institution ended 
when their Grand-Master, Gothard Kettler, fell into heresy, and, like 
Albert of Brandenburg, took a wife unto himself. After the apostasy 
of the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Teutonic Knights transferred the 
seat of their order to Marienthal in Franconia. At the present day a 
remnant of this order, once so austere, so observant, and so illustrious, 



THE TEUTONIC ORDER. 



215 



is found in Germany. A female branch of the order is still in existence 
in some places. 

By a decree of March 16th, 1886, Leo XIII. permitted the Knights 
to take only simple vows, though the body to which they belong 
still continues to be numbered among the religious orders. 



VARIOUS ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 



ALCANTARA. — CALATRAVA. — ST. JAMES. — AVIS. — ORDER OF CHRIST. — ST. 
LAZARUS. — MOUNT CARMEL. 

A MONG the many military orders which took their rise at the time 



£\ of the crusades, that of Alcantara deserves especial mention. 
According- to Manrique in his annals of Citeaux, it was founded in the 
year 1 1 56 by two brothers, Suarez and Gomez, on the frontiers of 
Castile, in the diocese of Ciudad Rodrigo. Its object was to resist the 
encroachments of the Moors. Odo, archbishop of Salamanca, of the 
order of Citeaux, gave it a rule. Helyot says that the order was con- 
firmed by Alexander III. in 1 1 77. In 1183 Lucius III. commanded 
the members of this order to follow the mitigated rule of St. Benedict. 
Having entered into possession by donation of the castle of Alcantara, 
they took its name instead of that they had originally borne ; for at 
first they had been called Knights of St. Julian of Peyrero. Unfort- 
unately they became mixed up in the intestine wars of Spain, and bore 
arms against Christians, while divisions were introduced into the order 
itself. Pope Alexander VI. united the dignity of Grand-Master to 
the Spanish crown, and in 1540 the Knights obtained permission to 
marry. 

Closely connected with the Order of Alcantara was that of 
Calatrava, founded about the year 11 58 by religious of Citeaux in the 
fortress of Calatrava. The greater number of its first members were 
Cistercian lay-brothers who had been made to bear arms for the de- 
fence of the fortress, but after the death of Raymond, abbot of Fitero, 
its first superior, the Knights refused to continue receiving monks and 
being governed by an abbot, hence they elected Garcias their Grand- 
Master. This caused dissensions between them and the monks of Ci- 
teaux, which, however, were quelled by an amicable settlement. Pope 
Alexander III. approved the order in 1 164. Their mode of life was to. 
some extent similar to that of Cistercian monks. About the year 1523 
the title of Grand-Master passed over to the crown of Spain. In 1540 
the Knights obtained permission to marry, and since that period they 
have continued to take the vows of poverty and obedience, but instead of 
that of absolute chastity, they only take the vow of conjugal chastity. 

216 




VARIOUS ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 



217 



Since 1652 they added a fourth vow, that of defending the Immaculate 
Conception of the Blessed Virgin. 

In the year 1219 a female branch of the Order of Calatrava had been 
established. 

About the year 1170 was founded in Spain the Order of St. James 
of the Sword, with the object of protecting the numerous pilgrims 
who were wont to visit the tomb of St. James at Compostella. The 
chaplains of the order formed a distinct body, and they were recog- 
nized by the Holy See as Regular Canons of the rule of St. Augustine. 
Until the reign of Alexander III. the Knights were religious, but 
this Pope having permitted them to marry, though continuing to take 
the vows of poverty and obedience, they bound themselves only to 
conjugal chastity. A fourth vow, that of defending the Immaculate 
Conception of Mary, was afterwards added, as was done in the orders 
of Calatrava and of Alcantara. This order had also its female branch. 
Its highest dignity, that of Grand-Master, was in course of time united 
to the crown of Spain. To these preceding orders of chivalry more 
names might be added, such as those of the Band, founded in 1330, 
the Dove, and the Stole, but what we have said we deem sufficient to 
interest our readers in the military orders of Spain. 

In Portugal was founded, about the year 1 162, the Order of Avis, the 
members of which followed the rule of St. Benedict. Historians do 
not agree among themselves concerning the origin of its name, which 
some derive from that of a place where one of their fortresses w T as 
built. In 1550 Paul III. united the office of Grand-Master to the crown 
of Portugal. This order was affiliated to that of Citeaux. 

The Order of Christ in Portugal was one of those established on the 
ruins of that of the Templars. After the suppression of the latter, King 
Dennis instituted a military order to take its place in his kingdom, and 
in 1 3 19 obtained its confirmation from John XXII., who submitted it 
to the rule of St. Benedict and the constitutions of Citeaux, and con- 
ferred upon it the goods of the suppressed Templars. The members of 
this order at first took the ordinary vows of religion, but Pope Alex- 
ander VI. dispensed them from the practice of strict poverty, and also 
permitted them to enter the marriage state. 

Countlessother military orders existed in various countries of Chris- 
tendom, such as those of Danebroch in Denmark, of the Golden Shield, 
the Holy Ghost, and the Star in France, and of Bathand the Garterin Eng- 
land. They date their origin from the time when the spirit of religion 
and chivalry combined penetrated all mediaeval Europe. Some of these 
were both military and religious orders, while others were merely mili- 
tary, and formed pious confraternities, like those of Bathand the Garter. 



218 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The origin of the Knights of St. Lazarus is more or less obscure, 
some authors carrying it as far back as the days of St. Basil. This 
much is certain, that their special object was the care of lepers, though 
some also bore arms for the Holy Land. They even admitted into 
their order persons afflicted with leprosy, and, what is still more re- 
markable, until the year 1253 they could elect as Grand-Master no one 
but a leper- Knight of their hospital at Jerusalem. As lepers became 
rare, and the order had grown to be relaxed, it was suppressed by In- 
nocent VIII. in 1490. This bull was not received in France, where 
the order. continued to exist. It appears that Leo X. restored it also 
outside of France. In 1572 it was united in Savoj r to the Order of St. 
Maurice, which had been founded a short time previously by Duke 
Emanuel Philibert. The Knights of St. Lazarus were formerly strict- 
ly religious, taking solemn vows. Those of St. Maurice, following the 
rule of Citeaux, took the vows of poverty, obedience, and conjugal 
chastity, it being permitted to them to marry once. 

In 1604 the Order of St. Lazarus was in France united to the mili- 
tary Order of Mount Carmel, as it had been in Savoy to that of St. 
Maurice. The Order of Knighthood of Mount Carmel was founded 
by Henry IV., King of France, out of devotion to the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. Its establishment was permitted, and the order was confirmed 
by Paul V. on February 16, 1607. In the bull of this date the Pope 
granted authority to King Henry to appoint a Grand-Master, who 
would have power to create as many Knights as he chose. The mem- 
bers of the order were permitted to marry even a second time and a 
widow. They were to take the vows of obedience and conjugal chas- 
tity, and that of bearing arms against the enemies of the Church when, 
ever they should be required to do so by the Pope or the king of 
France. They were bound to the daily recitation of the Office of the 
Blessed Virgin or of the Rosary, to hear Mass on feast days and on 
Saturdays, and to abstain from meat on Wednesdays. King Henry sup- 
pressed the office of Grand-Master of the Order of St. Lazarus, and 
united this order, as we have said, to that of the Knights of Mount Car- 
meL By this union the Order of St Lazarus became more splendid 
than ever before. The Order of Knights of Mount Carmel and St. 
Lazarus was abolished by the French Revolution, restored with the 
monarchy, but it finally disappeared in the Revolution of 1830. 

Alphonsus I., king of Portugal, after a victory gained over Albarch, 
king of Seville, founded about 1 167 the Order of Knights of the Wing 
of St. Michael, as an act of gratitude towards the Archangel, who had 
visibly assisted him during the engagement and in the midst of danger. 
To become a member of this order it was necessary to be of noble 



VARIOUS ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 



219 



birth, and to belong to the court of the prince, while those who had 
fought with him were preferred before others. The member received 
was obliged to swear before the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of 
Alcobaza fidelity to God, the Pope, and the king. Only the aforemen- 
tioned abbot had the power to invest with the mark of the order. The 
knights were at all times obliged to recite the same prayers as the lay- 
brothers of the Order of Citeaux. They were subject to the jurisdic- 
tion of the abbot of Alcobaza. They were allowed to marry, but in 
case they had had children, they were forbidden, after the death of 
their wife, to contract a second marriage. By this we see that this 
Order of Knighthood was not a religious order like others which were 
founded about the same time. The principal obligations of its mem- 
bers w^ere to be meek and humble, to restrain the proud, to help wom- 
en, especially young girls and widows, to defend the faith, to fight 
against its enemies, and to obey their superiors. The insignia of their 
order consisted of a red wing on a white mantle. The order existed 
only during the reign of Alfonso, and of his son, Sanchez I. 

About the year 1362 the Order of Knights of the Annonciade was 
founded in Savoy. In the beginning it was called Order of Knights 
of the Collar, as the distinctive badge of the order was a collar worn 
by its members. The Grand-Masters were always the Dukes of Savoy. 
Its name was changed by Charles III. in 1518, who called it the Order 
of the Annonciade, or of the Annunciation, in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin. 

In Scotland there existed the Order of St. Andrew, founded, or per- 
haps restored, by James V. in 1534. The number of its Knights was 
never more than twelve at a time. This order practically ceased with 
the introduction of Protestantism, though it was for a time restored 
by James II. of England. 



PART V. 



Mendicant Orders. 



FRANCISCANS. 

ST. FRANCIS. — APOSTOLIC LABORS.— THE RULE. — PORTIUNCULA. — GEN- 
ERAL CHAPTER. — STIGMATA.— BROTHER ELIAS. — ST. BONAVENTURE. 
— CONDITION AND MODE OF GOVERNMENT OF THE FRANCISCANS. 

THE twelfth century formed an epoch of great affliction for the 
Church, and seemed even to threaten it with ruin. Besides the 
Waldenses, Albigensians, Petrobrussians, and a number of other heretics 
who waged war against it by their pernicious doctrines, the Christian 
emperors themselves conspired against their mother, and rendered the 
sanctuary desolate. At this unfortunate period Divine Providence 
raised up a man who was to exercise a wonderful influence for good 
upon the age in which he lived. We speak of the seraphic St. Francis. 
This saint first beheld the light in Assisi, a city of Umbria, in the year 
1 182. The birth of Francis marks a new era in the history of monasticism, 
the beginning, namely, of the great mendicant orders. Thus far the 
religious life had tended either to absolute contemplation or to the 
reformation of the clergy; it was now to descend to the plains of ac- 
tivity, and mingle more freely with the people. Riches had frequently 
been its bane ; extreme poverty was now to become its safeguard and 
protection, though, alas ! even the poor of Christ, the mendicant re- 
ligious, have in course of time degenerated. 

The first years of Francis, whose name was really John, but who 
had been surnamed the Frenchman on account of his knowledge of 
French, and who had thus acquired the name by which he was since 
called, were given to the world and its occupations and pleasures. 
Severe afflictions which befell him and the grace of God caused him 
to enter into himself and begin a new mode of life. He abandoned 
his worldly goods, and clad in the garb of a peasant, commenced a life 
of prayer and penance, in spite of the opposition of bis father. Within 
a few years several persons, moved by his example, joined him. The 

first of these was Blessed Bernard of Quintavalle, who became his 

220 



FRANCISCANS. 



221 



companion on May 16, 1209, to which date the origin of the Friars- 
Minor is ascribed. His example was soon followed by Peter of Ca- 
tana and Giles of Assisi. The Franciscan order was thus one of those 
which were established by a providential evolution, without a fixed 
and definite plan in the mind of a founder. 

Francis and his companions began to preach to the people amidst 
honors on one side and opprobrium on the other, but they bore all for 
the love of Jesus Christ. Meanwhile the disciples of the saint contin- 
ued to increase in number, and Francis instructed them in the practice 
of the evangelical counsels, especially of poverty, which was his cher- 
ished virtue, and to practise which he made them beg from door to 
door. This practice laid the foundation of mendicity in religious or- 
ders, which, like so many other good actions, we believe, was sometimes 
apt to degenerate. 

St. Francis wrote the rule of his order in 12 10. It was divided into 
twenty-three chapters, which contained twenty-seven precepts that 
the Sovereign Pontiffs afterward rendered obligatory under the pain 
of mortal sin. In this rule the use of money is absolutely forbidden, 
the quality, quantity, and value of the clothing are determined. The 
habit was to consist of a tannic with hood, another tunic without the 
hood, in case of necessity, and a cord around the waist. 

The religious were forbidden to ride on horseback and to use shoes. 
Conversations with women and visiting of female monasteries were 
prohibited. The friars were bound to fast on all Fridays of the year, 
also from All-Saints to Christmas, and from Epiphany until Easter. 
The recitation of the Divine Office was also rendered obligatory on all. 
The most absolute obedience in all things not contrary to the rule 
was prescribed. The rule also contains eighteen precepts which do 
not bind under the pain of mortal sin. 

After the completion of this rule, St. Francis and his companions 
set out for Rome to obtain the approbation of Pope Innocent III. The 
Pontiff at first refused to receive them, but the next day, in conse, 
quence of a dream he had had, he sent, for Francis, caused the rule to 
be examined, and approved of it by word of mouth. He ordered the 
saint and his brethren to preach penance, and to spread the Catholic 
faith in the world. 

Thus far Francis and his disciples had travelled from place to place, 
having no fixed dwelling, but they at last settled in the neighborhood 
of Assisi, near the church of Our Lady of the x\ngels, called Portiuncula, 
given to them by the Benedictine Fathers. This convent was soon 
followed by others, and the order began to spread rapidly. Saint 
Francis now left Italy and founded convents in Spain and Portugal. 



222 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



He had intended going to Africa, in the hope of shedding his blood 
for the faith of Christ, but an attac 1 N f illness forced him to return to 
Italy in 12 15. In the same year the Council of Lateran, held under 
Innocent III., approved his rule, but no document was issued to that 
effect. The following year the saint convoked a general chapter at 
Assisi, in which he sent his brethren to France, England, German) 7 , 
and other parts of Europe. In another general chapter, held at Assisi 
in 1219, more than five thousand brethren were present, and these were 
only the representatives of a great number who had remained in their 
respective convents. The members of the chapter being so numerous, 
it became necessary to lodge them in the open fields in small huts. It 
is almost incredible that in such a short space of time, a period of only 
ten years, a religious order should have made such enormous progress. 
When we add to this number that of the religious of other orders, who 
were also numerous, we may form some idea of the extent to which 
monasticism prevailed in Europe in the thirteenth century. 

About this time St. Francis also sent his religious to Greece and 
Africa. It was his wish 'that the friars should always obtain the per- 
mission of the bishops in whose dioceses the) 7 preached, and for this 
reason he procured letters of recommendation from Pope Honorius 
III. St. Francis himself passed over to Palestine, where he had an 
interview with the sultan, who allowed him to preach the gospel in his 
territory, though he himself persisted in his errors. 

The Franciscans were introduced into Ireland during the lifetime 
of the saint himself, the monastery of Chantry being founded as 
earjy as 1224 by Maurice Fitzgerald, Lord Justice of Ireland, who, 
abandoning the world, entered the Franciscan Order, and died in 1257. 
This monastery was reformed by the Observantines of the Strict Ob- 
servance in 1460. We find the monastery of Carrickfergus, founded in 
1232, only a few years after his death. In 1497 it was brought over 
to the Observantines by Neile M'Caine O'Neill. This monastery was 
in such high repute that a general chapter of the order was held in 
it in 15 10. 1 

In 1261,01-, according to Wadding, quoted by Allemande, in 1 291, the 
Order of St. Francis obtained an establishment in the city of Armagh. 
In 15 18 the Friars of the Strict Observance began in it-a reform which 
was brought to a happy result only in 1583. 

Francis returned to Italy in 1220, and held another chapter at 
Portiuncula to remedy the abuses which Brother Elias, who had gov- 
erned the order during his absence, had introduced. This Elias was 
an ambitious man, who sought more the earthly splendor of the order 

1 Archdall, — Monasticon Hibernicum. 



FRANCISCANS. 



223 



than its spiritual welfare. St. Francis predicted that he would not die a 
religious, and the prophecy was fulfilled, for after exercising the office 
of General of the order, Brother Elias left it. 

St. Francis obtained for his order, among other privileges, that of the 
famous indulgence of Portiuncula on August 2d, which was afterward 
extended to all Franciscan convents. 

In 1223 the rule of St. Francis, modified and reduced to twelve 
chapters, was finally approved by a bull of Honorius III. The follow- 
ing year the saint of Assisi was miraculously marked by the stigmata 
of Christ's Sacred Passion, the wounds of the Redeemer being im- 
printed upon his hands and feet. He did not long survive this grace, 
but died on October 4th, 1226. St. Francis never became a priest, his 
humility having prevented him from ascending higher than the order 
of deacon. He was canonized two years later, in 1228, by Pope Greg- 
ory IX. 

The year before the canonization of the saint, Gregory IX. called 
a chapter of the order, at which he personally assisted. Father Elias r 
then Vicar-General, was chosen to succeed St. Francis, but, affecting 
great piety and zeal for the regular observance, he objected to this 
dignity. He did this, says Helyot, only with the object of deceiving 
the religious, and thus gaining their confidence. He finally accepted 
the office of General on condition that he would be allowed to dispense 
himself, as necessity would require, from some of the austerities of the 
order. 

During his administration relaxation was introduced to a con- 
siderable extent, though some of the religious, zealous for the regular 
observance, positively resisted the General. Thus when building a 
magnificent church in honor of St. Francis, he had, contrary to the 
rule, set up money-boxes for the reception of the alms of the faithful, 
several of these friars, indignant at this act, destroyed them. Among 
those who opposed Father Elias was St. Anthony of Padua. This 
saint, together with other brethren, finally obtained from the Pope the 
deposition of the General. The latter, deeply humiliated, maintained 
that he was not bound to such strict poverty as he had made his pro- 
fession according to the rule approved by Innocent III., and not to 
that confirmed by Honorius III., in which the strictest poverty is en- 
joined. Pope Gregory, instead of admitting these reasons, obliged him 
to renew his profession according to the rule of Honorius. Elias 
now adopted other tactics. He feigned entire submission, and declared 
that he would no longer interfere with the affairs of the order, but 
spend his days in solitude. The heart of the Pope was touched, and 
at the first opportunity which presented itself he re-established the 



224 HI ST OR Y OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



ambitious friar in the office of General. The old order of things began 
again, and the fervent religious, who were called Cesarins, from Father 
Cesarius of Spire being the most eminent among them, were cruelly 
persecuted. Finally, however, the Sovereign Pontiff recognized 
the real state of affairs, and Elias was for the last time deposed. This 
man then abandoned the monastic profession and went over to the 
Emperor Frederick. 

The two following Generals, Albert of Pisa and Haymont of Fever- 
sham, were men of great virtue, who endeavored to suppress the spirit 
of relaxation, but their successor, Crescenze of Jesi, not only imitated 
Father Elias, but even increased the abuses which had already crept 
in, and he sought after worldly advantages. Those who desired to 
maintain the regular observance were forced to preserve silence and 
await better times, which finally arrived, when, in 1256, St. Bon- 
aventure was elected General and a universal reformation began. 
From this period there is no further mention of Cesarins in the Order 
of St. Francis. St. Bonaventure introduced a change of habit anions 
the Franciscans by prescribing a round hood over a shoulder-covering, 
round in front and pointed in the back. This was done to remedy the 
abuse introduced by some of wearing wide hoods, and also to 
distinguish the habit of the religious from the costume worn by the 
shepherds of that period. 

As we advance in the history of the Order of St. Francis, we find 
that various reformations were introduced into it, the most important 
of which will form the subject of separate divisions. Ere we proceed, 
however, it will be interesting to our readers to cast a glance at the 
general condition and mode of government of this illustrious order. 

The entire Franciscan body is divided into three separate orders, 
which bear the name of first, second, and third. These are again di- 
vided into various observances, comprising the Observants, Recollects, 
Discalcecl, and Reformed, who all belong to the Strict Observance, 
on the one side, and the Conventuals on the other. The Capuchins 
form another branch of the Franciscan Order. To the first order be- 
long the male members of these different observances, who bind them- 
selves by solemn vows. The second order consists of the female re- 
ligious, namely, the Poor-Clares, Urbanists, and Capuchin nuns, while 
the third order comprises persons living in the world, as well as var- 
ious religious congregations affiliated to the Order of St. Francis. 

The religious of the first order of both the Strict Observants and the 
Conventuals are sub-divided into two families: the Cismontane and 
Ultramontane. The former comprises the convents of Italy, Upper 
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and those of Syria and Palestine. To the 



FRANCISCANS. 



225 



latter belong the convents of France, Spain, Lower Germany, Sax- 
ony, the islands of the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, and the Indies in 
general. Each family is again divided into provinces, vicariates, and 
custodies. A province is a union of several convents under a common 
Superior, dependent on the General. A vicariate consisted, in the begin- 
ning of the order, of a smaller number of houses than a province, and 
did not enjoy the same prerogatives. Custodies hold the same place 
as the vicariates did at first. Some custodies are subject to a provin- 
cial, while others depend immediately on the General. Missions among 
the heathen are called prefectures. The entire order is governed by 
a Superior, who bears the title of Minister-General of the Order of St. 
Francis, and to whose jurisdiction the Urbanist nuns and Poor Clares 
are also subject. The General of the Conventuals is called Master-Gen- 
eral of the Friars-Minor Conventuals, while the Capuchins give to their 
General the title of Minister-General of the Friars-Minor Capuchins. 
The brothers of the Third Order in Italy have also a General of their 
own. The General of the entire Order of St. Francis is taken alter- 
nately from the Cismontane and Ultramontane families. 

In the beginning the Generals exercised their office for life, but 
Pope Julius II., seeing that this practice was prejudicial to the order,, 
reduced, in 1506, the time of government of the General to six years, 
and Pius V. having extended it to eight, Sixtus V., in 1587, brought it 
back to six years. 

The Order of St. Francis has given to the Church four Popes, namely, 
Nicholas IV., Alexander V., Sixtus IV., and Sixtus V. Forty-five 
cardinals and an immense number of patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, 
and persons eminent for their science and virtue have been members 
of this order. It has had many martyrs whose names are on the list 
of saints, a number of canonized confessors, and several others who 
have been beatified. 



EARLY SAINTS OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER. 



FRANCISCAN MARTYRS — ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA — ST. LOUIS, BISHOP. — 
ST. BONAVENTURE. 

\ MONG the first fruits of sanctity produced by the illustrious C 



£\ der of St. Francis were five brethren, who gained the crown o r 
martyrdom. Their names were Bernardus, Peter, Acursius, Adjutus, 
and Otto. They were sent by their holy founder to preach to the 
Mahometans of Europe, while he chose for himself the more distant 
field of the East. The ancient city of Seville, in Spain, where the 
Alcazar or palace still reminds one of Moorish domination, and where 
the Giralda tower stand's as a silent witness of the time when Moslem 
heads bowed to the name of Allah, was then in the hands of the follow- 
ers of Mahomet. Thither the zealous missionaries directed their steps. 
Being banished thence, they crossed over to Morocco. Here they 
suffered martyrdom on January 16, 1220. They were canonized by 
Sixtus IV. in 148 1. Seven other Franciscan saints were martyred by 
the Moors in Africa, on October 10, 1221. 

A few years after the glorious martyrdom of these. servants of God, 
another saint of the Franciscan order passed away from earth. St. 
Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, in 1 195, and at his baptism re- 
ceived the name of Ferdinand, which he exchanged for that of Anthony 
on entering the Franciscan order. At the age of fifteen he joined the 
Order of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. He was living in the 
convent of that order at Coimbra when the relics of the five Francis- 
cans who had lately been martyred were brought from Morocco by 
Don Pedro, Infante of Portugal. This event inspired him with an ar- 
dent desire of martyrdom. Shortly after, certain Franciscan friars 
arriving at his convent, he disclosed to them his desire of becoming a 
member of their institute. They encouraged him in this, but the 
members of his own order were, of course, bitterly opposed to his 
leaving them. Having, after mature deliberation, discovered the will 
of God, he obtained the consent of his prior, and embraced the insti- 
tute of St. Francis. Though a man of great learning, he out of hu- 
mility concealed his talents for a time, until it pleased God to reveal 
to the Order of St. Francis what a treasure it had acquired. Here- 




EARLY SAINTS OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER. 



227 



>on St. Francis sent him to Vercelli to apply himself to the study of 

>ology, and, after a short time, to teach the sacred sciences. For 
eral years he taught theology at Bologna, Toulouse, Montpellier, 
1 Padua. At the same time he devoted himself to the work of 
preaching, and he was appointed guardian of the convent at Limoges. 
After some time he gave up teaching in order to apply himself to 
preaching the Word of God, in which he was most successful. 

After the death of St. Francis, St. Anthony was a most strenuous 
opponent of Brother Elias, the General who endeavored to introduce 

t axation into the order. 

St. Anthony of Padua died on June 13th, 123 1, being only thirty-six 
years of age, of which ten had been spent, as a Franciscan. 

In 1297 died St. Louis, bishop of Toulouse, who, in fulfilment of a 
vow, had made his profession as a Friar-Minor shortly after his ap- 
pointment as bishop and before his consecration. He had been pre- 
ceded to the grave several years before by the great light of the 
Franciscan order, St. Bonaventure, surnamed the Seraphic Doctor. 

This saint was born at Bagnorea, in Tuscany, in the year 1221. Al- 
though his baptismal name was John, he received that of Bonaventure 
from an exclamation of St. Francis Assisi: O Buona Ventura! — O 
good fortune! — which ' burst from his lips when the child, who had 
recovered its health through his miraculous intervention, was presented 
to him. Casting . a prophetic glance into the future, he foretold the 
graces which divine Providence had in store for the child. 

At the age of twenty-two St. Bonaventure entered the Franciscan 
order, and received the habit from Haymo, an Englishman, who was 
then General. Shortly after his profession he was sent to Paris to 
complete his studies under the direction of Alexander of Hales, also 
an Englishman, and one of the most celebrated doctors of that age, 
who ranks with the celebrated master of St. Thomas, the Dominican 
Albertus Magnus. After the death of Alexander, St. Bonaventure 
continued his course under his successor, John of Rochelle. Though 
most successful in his studies, he never allowed them to interfere with 
the spirit of piety that always animated him. 

Souls of a similar character are frequently drawn together as 
though by magnetic attraction. It was thus that St. Bonaventure 
contracted with St. Thomas Aquinas that intimate friendship which 
united the two saints until death parted them. 

After his ordination to the priesthood, St. Bonaventure succeeded 
John of Rochelle as professor in the university of Paris. He received 
the degree of doctor together with his friend, St. Thomas. In 1256 
he was chosen General of his order. Internal dissensions divided the 



228 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Franciscans, but the saint succeeded in restoring harmony. He was 
appointed cardinal and bishop of Aibano by Pope Gregory X. The 
saint died during the council of Lyons, at which he was assisting, on 
July 14, 1274, in the same year as his friend, St. Thomas. St. Bona- 
venture's writings are characterized by their unction and depth of 
feeling. 



THE OBSERVANTINES. 



BLESSED PAULETTO. — ATTEMPTED REFORMS. — DIVISION IN THE ORDER. 
— DECREE OF LEO X. — THE CONVENTUALS. 

THE author of this reform of the Franciscan order was Blessed 
Pauletto of Foligni, who received the habit of St. Francis in T323, 
His baptismal name was Paul, but on account of his youth and size 
the religious surnamed him Pauletto. It was his wish to be a 
simple lay-brother, in order to devote himself to the humblest works. 
Many abuses against poverty and other observances had crept into 
the Order of St Francis, and this caused so much pain to the pious 
heart of Brother Pauletto that he constantly besought God to remedy 
the evil, and frequently consulted with Blessed Thomas of Foligni, a 
religious of the same convent, on the means to bring the order back 
to its state of primitive fervor. 

Several reforms had been set on foot, such as those of the Ama- 
deists, Coletans,and Clarennins, and when one was attempted by John 
of the Valleys and Gentile of Spoleto, Pauletto became their disciple, 
but as these reformers failed in their efforts, he retired to Mount Cesi, 
where he built a little convent and church. The persecutions of the 
brethren forced him, however, to abandon this solitude, and with the 
permission of his superiors, he withdrew alone to a tower in order to 
devote himself more assiduously to prayer. His example exercised a 
good effect upon several other religious, and the General of the order, 
Thomas of Farignano, was persuaded to give him the hermitage of 
Bruliano. It was here that the humble brother laid the foundations 
of the Observance. Several brethren joined him, but few of them had 
the courage to persevere in a spot where nature could find no consola- 
tion. However, their places were soon supplied, and the number of 
his companions increasing, the General of the order soon after granted 
them several other convents. 

The successor of Thomas of Farignano, Leonard of Giffone, was 
so pleased with the regularity of these religious that he permitted 
them to spread among the other provinces, in order, if possible, to 
bring the entire order back to the exact observance of the rule. 
About this time it became customary to distinguish the members of 

229 



230 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, 



the Franciscan order into Conventuals, Brothers of the Hermitage, 
and Brothers of the Family. Those were generally styled Convent- 
uals who followed the various relaxations that had been introduced 
into the order. Brothers of the Hermitage were those who dwelt in 
small convents and hermitages, and this name was generally given to the 
disciples of Brother Pauletto, until they had begun the reformation 
of the larger convents, when they were called Brothers of the Observ- 
ance. The name of Brothers of the Family was given to all those who 
commenced a new mode of life. At the period of the great schism of 
the West, the Franciscan order w r as divided, the General, Leonard of 
Giffone, going with Clement VIL, the Pope of Avignon, while those 
who remained faithful to Urban VI. elected Louis Donato for their 
General. The Observants adhered to the latter party, and under the 
protection of the successive Generals of the order, continued to make 
great progress in Italy. A reform was also introduced at the same 
time among the Franciscans who followed the party of Clement VIII., 
and it spread to Germany, Spain, Portugal, and the East. Brother 
Fault tto died in 1390 at Foligni. .He was succeeded in the direction 
of the Observance in Italy by John of Stronconio, who, in 1405, was 
appointed Commissary-General. 

Meanwhile the reform had continued in France in spite of persecu- 
tions, and after the Council of Constance, which put an end to the great 
schism, its members obtained a Vicar-General to govern them. It was 
this same council which confirmed the name of Observance attached 
to their reform. In course of time the various other branches of the 
Observance obtained Vicar-Generals for their government. In 1438, 
Saint Bernardine of Sienna became Vicar-General of the Observantines 
in Italy, and, some time later, the members of the Observance were 
divided into the Cismontane and Ultramontane families, and it was 
decided that the Vicar-Generals should exercise the same authority 
over their subjects as the General did over the entire order. On ac- 
count ol the great dissensions which continued to exist between the 
Observants and the Conventuals, the Holy See decided that each 
branch of the order should hold separate general chapters. 

The subsequent history of the Order of St. Francis until the advent 
of Leo X. to the chair of Peter is one of a constant struggle between 
the Observantines and the Conventuals, though at* the same time the 
Observance progressed wonderfully. The Popes had vainly endeav- 
ored to put an end to the dissensions. Finally, about the year 151/V 
Leo X. ordered that a Minister-General of the Order of St. Francis 
should be elected from among the reformed religious, the Convent- 
uals being deprived of votes. Christopher of Forli was the one 



THE OBSER VANT1NES. 



231 



chosen. The Conventuals also elected a General, and the Pope per- 
mitted them to retain him, but decreed that henceforward he should 
receive his confirmation in office from the Minister-General of the Or- 
der of St Francis, and should bear the title, not of Minister, but of 
Master-General. The Conventuals, who thus far had been supreme 
in the order, were hereby subjected to the Observants. From this 
period, too, it has been cjstom- ry for the General of the Convent- 
uals to obtain his confirmation from the Pope himself. It is the only 
order in which this practice is observed. Precedence between Obser- 
vantines and Conventuals has varied on different occasions according 
to the decision of the Sovereign Pontiffs. 

The convent of La Rabida in Spain, where Columbus first met the 
great friends of his life, Fray Juan Perez and Fray Antonio de Mar- 
chena, belonged to the Observants at the time of the discovery of 
America, though until the year 1445 it had been in possession of the 
Conventuals. 



* 




\ 



CONVENTOF LA RABIDA. 

SITE OF LA RABIDA. — ITS NAME. — STATUE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. — 
KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. — PALOS. — COLUMBUS. — JUAN PEREZ. 

ENTERING the harbor of Huelva, in Andalusia, where the rivers 
Odiel and Tinto flow into the sea, look toward the right and 
your attention will be drawn to an antique building on an eminence^ 
near which a high monument stands erected. This edifice was des^ 
tined to act an important part in the discovery of the New World. 
It is the old convent of La Rabida, where Christopher Columbus 
spent some of the most important days of his eventful life. We had 
the pleasure of visiting it twice during our sojourn at Huelva. It is 
essentially the same as it was in the days of Columbus, though por- 
tions of it have been restored. The identical room occupied by Co- 
lumbus is not known with certainty. The convent is situated on the 
left bank of the Rio Tinto. Its name is derived by some from the 
Moorish Rabbitah, an exposed situation. According to an old manu- 
script, however, the name comes from the malady of rabies or hydro- 
phobia, which at one time prevailed in the neighborhood. If the man- 
uscript is correct, a Roman temple was built on the spot as early as 
the second century, during the reign of the emperor Trajan. After 
the introduction of Christianity into those regions, the temple was 
converted into a Christian sanctuary, and an image of the Blessed 
Virgin, the same which now stands above the high altar of the 
church of Palos, and which had been venerated on Mount Sion in 
Jerusalem, was given to it by St. Macarius, bishop of that city. 
The Blessed Virgin was here honored under the title of Santa Maria 
de la Rabida until the sanctuary fell into the hands of the Moors, 
when the statue was thrown into the sea to escape their fury, and the 
church was converted into a mosque. 

It is said that the sanctuary was, at a later period, given to the 
Knights Templars, by whom it was afterwards ceded to the religious 
of St. Francis, who took possession of it in 1221. When the order be- 
came divided, the convent remained in possession of the Conventuals, 
until 1445, when a decree of Eugene IV. gave it to the Observantines. 
In 1472 it is said that the image of the Blessed Virgin was recovered 

232 



CONVENT OF LA RABID A. 



233 



from the sea in a providential manner. A few years later, about 1484, 
the discoverer of America arrived at the gates of the convent, with 
his little son, Diego. At a short distance from La Rabida lies the once- 
important town of Palos, now in the days of its decadence. It was from 
this place that Columbus proceeded to the Franciscan convent. The 
pedestal on which stood the iron cross, at the foot of which he proba- 
bly rested on ascending the hill, has been lately unearthed. The cross 
itself has been placed on another pedestal before the convent door. 
The guardian of the monastery at that time was Fray Juan Perez, 
who had been confessor to Queen Isabella. He kindly received the 
wanderer into his monastic home, listened attentively to the statement 
of his plans, and became one of his most ardent supporters. Here Co- 
lumbus sojourned for some time, and to this spot he several times 
returned. 

The Franciscans remained at La Rabida until the suppression of the 
monasteries in Spain during the course of this century. After they 
left, this venerable relic was for a long time neglected, until, in 1856, it 
was declared a national monument. The celebration of the four hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America drew universal atten- 
tion towards it, and the old convent was restored. 

Our visit to it was paid on the 7th of October, 1892. As a member 
of the International Congress of Americanists, we took part in the 
opening session held within its walls. The prime minister of Spain, 
Senor Canovas del Castillo, in his opening speech, dwelt eloquently 
upon the important part this convent had acted in the great w r ork of 
the discovery of the New World. Beside him, on the platform, sat 
the Bishop of Badajoz, himself a son of St. Francis, attired in the col- 
or of his order. It was a memorable day. There, within the modest 
cloisters of that convent, where, four hundred years ago, another much 
smaller, though far more important congress had been held, of which 
the members were Columbus, Fray Juan Perez, Garcia Hernandez, 
and, perhaps, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, were now gathered together 
scholars from various parts of the civilized world to discuss questions 
appertaining to the country Columbus had discovered. And the oc- 
casion w T as the four hundredth anniversary of that discovery. A few 
days later, on October 12th, there was another, and still larger gather- 
ing at La Rabida. On the waters of the Rio Tinto, over which the 
three caravels of Columbus had sailed after leaving Palos for their 
eventful journey, a fleet of foreign men-o'-war now lay at anchor 
And do you notice those three odd-looking vessels in the distance? 
They are the reproductions of those which composed the fleet ot the 
Genoese "Navigator, — they are the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. 



2U 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



A deafening salute now rends the air. The war-ships are belching 
forth fire and smoke ; for their majesties, King Alphonso XIII. and 
his mother, the Queen-Regent Maria Christina, together with the 
Princesses Mercedes and Maria Teresa, are about to land on the his- 
toric spot. In the church of the convent are gathered together the 
diplomatic corps. Thither the royal family proceed to assist at the 
solemn Te Dewn. At a short distance from the monastery is a noble 
monument, erected to the memory of the man who once dwelt within 
these walls, — to Columbus. It is solemnly blessed by the Archbishop 
of Seville in presence of the king and queen. And now what marks 
this day more than all else, and becomes an epoch in the history of La 
Rabida, is the decree signed by Her Majesty restoring the convent to 
the sons of St. Francis. Thus, after an absence of many years, the 
brothers of Fray Juan Perez are permitted to dwell there whence the 
light went forth that illumined the half of the globe seated thus far in 
darkness. Most appropriately it was also decreed that the convent 
should be a nursery for the foreign missions. 



FRIARS-MINOR OF THE STRICT OBSERVANCE. 



TENDENCY OF MAN TO DEGENERATE.— JOHN DE LA PUEBLA AND JOHN 
OF GUADALUPE. — PROVINCE OF ST. GABRIEL. — OPPOSITION OF THE 
OBSERVANTS. — MISSION WORK IN THE NEW WORLD. 

THE free will of man, since the fatal day when it first rebelled 
against the sovereign will of the Creator, has had a downward 
tendency. Though not utterly depraved nor deprived of its liberty, 
it has nevertheless beheld that, liberty impaired by the wounds of 
ignorance, weakness, and concupiscence which sin inflicted upon it, so 
that man is prone to evil from his infancy. Sanctity is possible only 
where there is a constant warfare between man and himself, for we 
all experience that double law within us of which the Apostle speaks, 
the conflict of which constitutes the great struggle of life. This re- 
sult of original sin explains the downward tendency of every institu- 
tion in which there is a human element, at least in so far as that human 
element is concerned. Religious orders that were wonders of sanc- 
tity in their cradle became monsters of license in mature age, so that 
they called forth either an entire suppression or a total reformation. 
Nor is this true of the original orders only, but also of the reforms 
themselves. Witness the Order of Citeaux, which was a reform of the 
Benedictine order, and which in course of time itself needed a refor- 
mation. 

In the preceding chapter we saw how the Order of St. Francis had 
been reformed in Italy by Blessed Pauletto, and on the other side of the 
Alps, by men zealous for the Regular Observance. But the Observance 
itself was not safeguarded against abuses which gradually crept in. 
Beholding these, Blessed John de la Puebla in Spain began the Strict 
Observance of the Rule, and he was followed in this by Blessed John of 
Guadalupe, one of the most zealous of his disciples. The latter was 
desirous of obtaining an establishment in the kingdom of Granada, in 
order to introduce his reform among the Fathers of the Observance of 
the Province of St. James, and he obtained to this effect permission of 
the Father-General, Francis Samson. He added austerities to those 
practiced by John de la Puebla, and made some changes in the habit, 
choosing a very poor one, with a hood similar to that which he thought 

235 



236 HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

i 

St. Francis had worn. This gave to his religious the title of "Brothers 
of the Hood." He also abandoned the sandals worn by the Fathers of 
the Observance , and went barefooted, from which fact those who 
followed his reform were also styled the "Discalced Brothers." They 
went also by the name of "Brothers of the Holy Gospel," as their first 
custody was erected under this title. 

In 1496 John of Guadalupe obtained from Pope Alexander VI. a 
Bull authorizing him to found a convent in the kingdom of Granada; 
and to take with him six religious of the Observance, even without the 
permission of their superiors, provided they had asked it. The Pope 
at the same time subjected them to the General of the order, and ex- 
empted them from the jurisdiction of the Observants. John of Gua- 
dalupe began his reform in the hermitages of Oropezaand Placencia, in 
company with other zealous religious. It afterwards spread, not only 
in Spain, but also in Portugal, though it had to encounter the most 
bitter opposition on the part of the Observants. In 1509 the Discalced 
Franciscans were divided into two bodies, those of Portugal, who 
placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Observants, and those 
of Spain, who remained immediately subject to the General of the Or- 
der of St. Francis, at that time a Conventual. 

Leo X., having united all the reformed branches of the Order of St. 
Francis into one, under the title of "Friars-Minors of the Regular Ob- 
servance/' the Discalced Franciscans of Spain were thus brought, along 
with the others, under the jurisdiction of the Observants, though 
they kept up their particular reform, with this exception, that they 
began to wear sandals. Their custody was some time afterward erect- 
ed into a province under the name of St. Gabriel. It was from this 
province that, as we shall see later on, another reform, that of St. Peter 
of Alcantara, emanated. 

In 1525 the Strict Observance was introduced into Italy by the 
Spanish Father, Stephen Molina. In the latter country its members 
went by the name of the Riformati, or Reformed, while those of Spain 
and Portugal continued to bear the title of Discalced. The reformed 
religious of Italy practiced the greatest austerities, even more than 
the rule prescribes. Here, too, they were vexed by opposition on the 
side of the Observants. 

The Strict Observance was introduced into France in 1592 by Italian 
Franciscans, who were succeeded by French Fathers, known hereafter 
as Recollects, a name probably more familiar to our readers than that of 
Discalced or Reformed. Like their brethren of the Iberian Peninsula 
and th ose of Italy, the French Fathers of the Strict Observance had to 
encounter the animosity of the Observants. The Fathers of the Strict 



FRIARS-MINOR GF THE STRICT OBSER VANCE. 237 



Observance became the custodians of the tomb of our Lord in the 
Holy Land. They also evangelized the New World, those of Spain 
having- gone over to Mexico, while the Recollects directed their ener- 
gies towards the foundation of the Church in Canada. They arrived 
in that country early in the seventeenth century with Samuel Champlain. 
On the capture of Quebec by the British, in 1629, they were sent back 
to France. They afterwards returned to Canada, but as their property 
had been confiscated, and they were prevented from receiving novices, 
their province became extinct. Several of the Spanish Fathers suffered 
martyrdom in Mexico, where the first Archbishop, John of Hu- 
marragua, was a member of this order. They continued their work in 
California during the first half of our century. 

About the year 1802 an Irish Franciscan of the Strict Observance^ 
Rev. Michael Egan, arrived in the United States, and became assistant 
to Rev. Louis de Barth in the mission of Lancaster, Pa. An apostolic 
rescript of September 29, 1804, authorized him to found a province of 
his order in the United States, but the plan did not suceed. Father 
Egan was then appointed to St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, and 
named the first bishop of that See in 1809. ^ s consecration took 
place in St. Peter's Cathedral, Baltimore, on October 28th, 18 10. He 
did not long govern the diocese, for he died 011 July 22d, 18 14. 

Shortly, before the arrival of Father Egan in America, that is, in 1798, 
another Franciscan, Father Theodore Brauers, a Dutchman, had bought 
a farm and built a chapel at Youngstown, Ohio. This was the only 
edifice dedicated to Catholic worship in the entire district from Lake 
Erie to Conewago, Pa., and from the Alleghanies to the Ohio. Many 
years before, as early as 1755, French Recollects had been attached as 
chaplains to the French forts in the valley of the Ohio. Among these 
religious who labored in Canada and on the Ohio were Fathers Denis 
Baron and Luke Collet. Father Baron was born at Pontarlier in Fran- 
cheConte; he arrived at Quebec in 1740, and he was there ordained priest 
on September 23d of the following year. He labored successively at 
Three Rivers, Montreal, Niagara, Cape Breton, and Acadie, and finally 
became chaplain at Fort Duquesne and other French forts. He died 
at Crown Point, on November 6th, 1758. Father Collet was a Cana- 
dian, and he became a priest at Quebec on Februar}^ 24th, 1753. In 1754 
he was sent to the valley of the Ohio. The Recollects left the Ohio when 
the French forts fell into the hands of the British in 1758 and 1759. The 
French fort at Niagara had been visited as early as 1679 by the Recol- 
lects, Fathers Hennepin, Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Zenobe Membre. 

The Franciscans of the Strict Observance returned to the territory 
they had once watered with their sweat, in the year 1855. The year 



238 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



previous, Nicholas Devereux, Esq., of Utica, New York, on a visit to 
Rome, had applied to the Irish college of St. Isidore, of the Order of 
St. Francis, to found a mission in New York, on land, which, together 
with five thousand dollars, he intended to donate for the purpose. 
After certain negotiations and the entreaties of his own Fathers, added 
to the desire of the Bishop of Buffalo to bring matters to a happy issue, 
the General of the order gave his consent. With the blessing of the 
Holy Father and authority to establish a province, Fathers Pam- 
philus de Magliano, the Superior, Sixtus de Gagliano, and Samuel da 
Prezza, with the lay-brother, Salvador de Manarola, left Rome on May 
9th, 1855, and reached New York on the 19th of the following month. 
They began their labors at Ellicottsville, and after some time opened a 
house and college at Alleghany City, whence they spread to other foun- 
dations in the United States. 

The Franciscans are at present in the dioceses of Boston, Cincinnati, 
New York, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Alton, Buffalo, Cleve- 
land, Grand Rapids, Hartford, La Crosse, Leavenworth, Louisville, 
Los Angeles, Nashville, Newark, Ogdensburg, Omaha, and Vrncennes. 




REFORM OF ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA 



OR 



FRIARS-MINOR OF THE STRICTEST OBSERVANCE. 



VIRTUES OF THE SAINT. — BADAJOZ. —DESIRES OF REFORM.— FATHER 
MARTIN OF ST. MARY. — AUSTERE REFORM. 

HPHE saint who gave his name to this reform was born in 1499 at 



J[ Alcantara, in the Province of Estramadura, in Spain. At the age 
of sixteen he entered the Order of St. Francis, and from the beginning 
of his religious life became a model of mortification. Before his or- 
dination to the priesthood, when only twenty years of age, he was 
made Superior of the convent of Badajoz, and at the expiration of his 
term of three years he received word from his provincial to prepare 
for the reception of Holy Orders. He was ordained priest in 1524, 
and a year after he became guardian of the Convent of Our Lady of 
Angels, and afterwards began to exercise with great fruit the office 
of preaching. In 1538 he was elected provincial. His province, that 
of St. Gabriel, was the most observant in all Spain, and yet it did 
not entirely reach the ideal of St. Peter of Alcantara, who longed to 
re-establish within it the ancient and original discipline of the Order of 
St. Francis. Having long meditated on his plans, he convened a 
chapter at Placentia in 1540, and made them known to the assembled 
religious. The opposition of some he soon overcame by convincing 
reasons, and the constitutions he had framed were adopted. 

Meanwhile Father Martin ot Saint Mary had begun a very austere 
reform in Portugal in a hermitage called Arabida, near the mouth of 
the Tagus. Hardly had St. Peter of Alcantara been relieved, in 1541, 
of his office of Provincial, than he hastened to join Father Martin in 
Portugal, together with Father John d'Aquila. Here they began to 
lead a most austere life, which in some respects even surpassed the 
original rule of St. Francis. The General of the order, Father John 
Calus, having visited the hermitage of Arabida, was so edified by what 
he saw that he allowed Father Martin to receive other religious. The 
convents of Pathais and Satarenna were later on obtained for the re- 
form, and formed, together with Arabida, a custody of the Franciscan 
order. After the death of Father Martin, St. Peter of Alcantara added 




239 



240 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



another convent to it in 1550. Ten years later the custody was erect- 
ed into a province, under the title of Our Lady of Rabida. 

It appears that St. Peter of Alcantara was consumed by a veritable 
thirst for austerities; no reform that had thus far been effected seemed 
to satisfy him, and he finally obtained from Pope Julius III. permis- 
sion to establish a convent into which he might introduce an observance 
as rigorous as he wanted, and live under the obedience of the Convent- 
uals, in order that the superiors of his own province should not dis- 
turb him in his plans'. 

This new convent, of which the foundations were laid in 155.5, resem- 
bled more a tomb than a dwelling-place for the living. The entire 
building was only thirty-two feet long and eight feet wide. The saint's 
own cell was so small that he could not lie down in it without being 
drawn into an uncomfortable position. On his having been elected, 
with the permission of the General of the Conventuals, commissary of the 
custody of the Paschasites, religious also subject to the same branch of 
the order, Paul IV., in 15,59, permitted him to erect the custody into 
a province. 

The saint now prepared the statutes which were to govern the new 
province and all convents that would embrace his reform. Among 
these regulations we find that each cell should be only seven feet long, 
the infirmary thirteen, the church twenty-four, and that the entire 
circuit of the monastery should be of forty or fifty feet. No room was to 
be left either for a library or chapter hall. The religious were to be en- 
tirely barefooted ; they were to sleep on planks or mats placed upon the 
ground, and to all, except the sick, was forbidden the use of meat, fish, 
eggs, and wine. It was a rule that the Fathers should receive no stipends 
for their Masses, which were to be applied for their benefactors. They 
were obliged to spend three hours in mental prayer daily. The num- 
ber of religious in each convent was limited to eight. 

As this reform approached nearer to the Observants than to the 
Conventuals, it was decided in a chapter of the province, held in 
I.661, to return to the obedience of the General of the former branch of 
the Order of St. Francis, and permission to this effect was obtained 
from the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV., by a Bull of the year x'562. St. 
Peter of Alcantara died the same year, on October 17, in the Convent 
of Arenas. He was canonized by Clement IX. in 1669. The reform 
he had established spread in Spain and in Italy. 

St. Teresa, who was well acquainted with St. Peter of Alcantara, 
tells us that the penance performed by him was wonderful. For forty 
years the amount of sleep he took did not average more than one hour 
and a half in the twent}<-four hours. In all that time he never put on 



REFORM OF ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA. 



241 



his hood, how hot soever the sun or inclement the weather might be, 
nor did he ever wear anything on his feet, not even sandals. His habit 
was made of coarse sack-cloth. He was wont to eat only once in three 
days, and sometimes he would spend a week without takingfood. He 
never raised his eyes from the ground. In his old age, says St. Teresa, 
his penances had caused him to become so extenuated that his skin re- 
sembled the dried bark of a tree. 

He rendered great service to St. Teresa in the establishment of her 
reform. After his death he appeared to her, and exclaimed: " O hap- 
py penance, which hath obtained me so great a reward ! " 




FRIARS-MINOR CONVENTUALS. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME. — DECREES OF THE POPE. — EMINENT MEN. — RE- 
FORMED CONVENTUALS. 

THE name of " Friars- Minor Conventuals" was given by Pope Inno- 
cent IV., in 1250, to all the religious of the Order of St. Francis who 
lived in community, in order to distinguish them from those who dwelt 
in solitude, with the intention of observing the rule in alliigor ; but it 
also became customary to designate by this name those who were re- 
laxed and averse to the strict observance of the rule, and as such it 
stood opposed to that of Observants. We saw in a past chapter how, 
until the time of Leo X., .constant dissensions existed among the two 
classes of Franciscan Friars. This Pope endeavored to unite the en- 
tire order into one Observance, but having failed to do so, he gave, in 
a Bull of 1 5 17, the name of Conventual to those who persisted in fol- 
lowing up their old relaxed mode of life, and enjoying the privileges 
which had been granted them of possessing certain property. It was 
at this time that the Order of St. Francis first became divided into 
two separate bodies, namely, the Conventuals and the Observantines, 
each having its own General, with this exception : that the General of 
the Observantines, being Minister-General of the entire Order of St. 
Francis, possessed pre-eminence and authority over the General of the 
Conventuals, who was obliged to obtain his confirmation from the for. 
mer. This arrangement greatly displeased the Conventuals, and dur- 
ing the pontificate of Sixtus V., who had been a member of their order, 
they endeavored, but unsuccessfully, to dispute the right of the Ob- 
servantines. They repeated their efforts in 1593 and in 1602, under 
Clement VIII., but with no greater success. They could not bear that 
the General of the Observantines bore the title of Minister-General of 
the entire Order of St. Francis, and during the reign of Urban VIII. 
again brought forward their claims, but silence was imposed on them 
by a brief of April 21, 163 1. 

Both before and after the Bull of Leo X. the Conventuals lost many 
of their convents, which were given to the Observantines. In Spain, 
Cardinal Ximenes, who had been a member of the Observance, was 

greatly instrumental in depriving them of their convents in favor of 

212 



FRIARS-MINOR CONVENTUALS. 



243 



those who followed the Observance. Clement VIL, in 1524, ordered 
the provincial of the Observance at Burgos to bring back to the Reg- 
ular Observance all the Conventuals of the kingdom of Navarra, and 
Pius V., advancing further, commanded all the Conventuals of Spain 
to embrace the Regular Observance. The same measures were also 
adopted in regard to Portugal. In Italy and Germany they suffered 
fewer losses than elsewhere. 

Notwithstanding their departure from the original rule of St. Fran- 
cis, the Conventuals may glory in having possessed many men of dis- 
tinguished virtue among them. Two Popes, Sixtus IV. and Sixtus V., 
were of their number. 

Pius V., in 1 568, enforced the strict observance of the vow of poverty 
and of the life of community among the Conventuals. Their habit 
consists of a tunic, approaching to black, with a little hood attached to 
a large shoulder-covering, round in front and pointed on the back. 

After the year 1562 the institution of Reformed Conventuals began 
in Ital_y, and it was confirmed by Sixtus V. in 1 587. Its members were 
subjected to the General of the Conventuals, but they differed from 
them in their observance, which was according to the rule of St. Fran- 
cis, and, among other things, in being barefooted. Their congregation, 
however, did not continue to exist, for before the year 1668 it had been 
entirely suppressed. The reason of this originated from the fact that 
the greater number among them were lay-brothers, and that few re- 
ligious could be found capable of governing them. The members of 
this congregation were permitted to pass over to other branches of the 
family of St. Francis. 

The Conventual Fathers possess foundations in this country in the 
dioceses of Albany, Syracuse, and Trenton. 



THE CAPUCHINS. 



mathew de bassi. — louis of fossembrone. — exterior persecu- 
tions. — internal troubles. — bernardine ochino.— spread of 
The order. — illustrious members. — missions in America. 

AMONG the many branches of the Order of St. Francis, there is, 
perhaps, none more regular, more austere, and yet more singular 
than that of the men who are known throughout the Church as Cap- 
uchins. Mathew de Bassi, a religious of the Convent of Monte-Falco, 
belonging to the Observants, was the one to whom this institution owes 
its origin. Desirous of wearing a habit, which, he believed, was exact- 
ly similar to that worn by the patriarch of all Franciscans himself, he 
left his convent, went to Pope Clement VII., and obtained from that 
pontiff the permission to put his desire into execution. Having pre- 
sented himself before the chapter of the province of Ancona, the pro- 
vincial treated him as an apostate and had him imprisoned. Through 
the influence of Catherine Cibo, Duchess of Camerino, and niece of 
the Pope, he obtained his liberty. Two other Franciscans shared his 
vie, ws, but their provincials opposed them. The General of the order, 
however, approved of their plans, but counselled them to delay the 
execution thereof, In their impatience they had recourse to the 
Cardinal-Protector, who assured them that it was the wish of the Pope 
that such matters should be referred to the superiors of the orders. 
But the impatient religious would not delay; they obtained habits 
similar to that of Mathew de Bassi, and left their convents secretly to 
confer with their leader. Having obtained letters of recommendation 
from the Duchess of Camerino, the two Friars addressed themselves to 
Clement VII., who referred them to the grand penitentiary, from whom 
they obtained a brief permitting Matthew de Bassi, together with 
Louis and Raphael of Fossembrone, to retire into a hermitage, and 
wear the habit they had chosen, even without the permission of their 
Superior, provided they had asked it. Louis and Raphael presented 
this brief to the Provincial of Ancona, but the latter obtained a 
counter-brief permitting him to proceed against these apostates, as he 
considered them to be. They, however, escaped from him, and took 
up their abode with the Camaldolese, near Massacio, who received 

244 




CAPUCHIN FRIARS 



THE CAPUCHINS. 



245 



them with great kindness. After being for a considerable time hunt- 
ed down, as it were, by the Provincial, they were finally received under 
the jurisdiction of the Conventuals, in 1527. This was approved in the 
following year by the Pope, who permitted them to wear the peculiar 
hood of their choice and a long beard. It is from the year of the 
publication of this Bull of Clement VII. that the Order of Capuchins 
dates its beginning. Their number now began to increase, so that 
they were enabled to establish several convents. The conversions 
effected by their preaching, and the services rendered by them during 
the contagious disease which ravaged Italy in 1528, gained for them 
universal esteem. Mathew de Bassi was elected first Vicar-General, 
under the jurisdiction of the General of the Conventuals, and constitu- 
tions were drawn up for the government of the religious. It was de- 
creed among other things that they should recite the Divine Office 
without chant, and say Matins at midnight. There was to be med- 
itation in the morning and in . the evening, and on certain days 
the discipline was to be taken. The utmost poverty was also pre- 
scribed. 

Mathew de Bassi having resigned his office, Louis of Fossembrone 
succeeded him. Helyot says that the latter refused to convoke a gen- 
eral chapter at the request of his brethren, his desire of holding the 
reins of government affording him several pretexts for his refusal. It 
is strange that the first two Capuchins should have left the order which 
owed its origin to them. The facts, as given by Helyot, are as follows:: 
Louis of Fossembrone, beholding himself forced by the will of 
the Pope to convene a general chapter, hoped that he would be con- 
tinued in his office, but to his great chagrin the chapter, which was 
held at Rome inTi 535, elected Bernardine d'Asti to fill the office of 
Vicar-General. The ex-Vicar-General now publicly gave vent to his 
feelings, and reproached the Capuchins with having treated him with 
the greatest ingratitude. The Vicar-General and the definitors who 
had been elected assembled and divided the congregation into prov- 
inces, making at the same time other regulations. Louis of Fossem- 
brone refused to be present at this meeting, laid his complaints before 
the Pope, and requested that another general chapter be held. The 
Sovereign Pontiff ordered the convocation of the general chapter 
which had been asked for, and it was held under the presidency of 
Cardinal de Trani. Bernardine d'Asti was again elected, and this time 
Fossembrone broke out into such invectives against the order thatthe 
Cardinal ejected him from the chapter, and the Pope confirmed the elec- 
tion of Bernardine. Louis of Fossembrone finally refusing to acknowl- 
edge the new Vicar-General, and to submit to obedience, was dis- 



246 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



gracefully chased away from the order by a sentence of the superiors, 
which the Pope confirmed. 

The liberty -loving Mathew de Bassi, who had resigned the Vicariate- 
General in order to enjoy greater freedom, having come to the con- 
vent of Rome in 1537, learned that a Bull of the Pope excommunicated 
all those who, without living in the monasteries subject to the Vicar- 
General of the Capuchins, nevertheless wore their hood. Hearing 
this, he cut off the half of his hood, and left the Capuchins under the 
pretext of continuing his preaching in conformity with the permission 
which had been granted him by Clement VII. It thus happened that 
those who had commenced the institute of the Capuchins broke with 
the order they had been instrumental in founding. 

Bernardine d' Asti was succeeded in the government of his order by 
Bernardine Ochino, who had entered the congregation in 1534. He 
had received the habit from the Observantines, but having aposta- 
tized from their order, he applied himself to the study of medicine at 
Perugia. After some years, touched with repentance, he returned to 
the Observantines, but left them again within a short time to join the 
Capuchins, who received him with joy, and afterwards elected him 
Vicar-General. He governed the order with such prudence and 
caused the rule to be observed with such exactitude that he was elected 
a second time, in 1541. He was considered the ablest preacher of his 
time, though his sermons Consisted for the greater part of beautiful 
language without substance. His knowledge was so superficial that 
he scarcely knew Latin. Nevertheless the people and the princes re- 
vered him as a saint, and loaded him with honors. His brethren re- 
spected him no less on account of his zeal for the Regular Observance 
and his great virtues. However, the honors he had received elated 
him, and he began to aspire to the highest dignities of the Church. 
Seeing that the Pope did not appear as much convinced of his merit 
as he was himself, he began adroitly to make use in his sermons of 
expressions derogatory to the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. This 
caused him to be summoned to Rome, but he refused to go, and in 
order to escape prosecution on the part of the court of Rome, he 
abandoned his Capuchin habit, and, in 1542, took refuge at Geneva, 
which was in the hands of the Calvinists. Here he married a woman 
from Lucca who had followed him. Leaving Geneva, he wandered 
from place to place, teaching all manner of new doctrine, even polyg- 
amy, until he finally died of the pestilence in Moravia, at the same 
time as his wife, two daughters, and a son, Boverius, in his Annals of 
the Capuchins, makes him die at Geneva, after having retracted his 
errors, but Helyot does not admit this as probable. 



THE CAPUCHINS. 



247 



The apostasy of Ochino caused a certain amount of damage to the 
Capuchins, as they became suspected of heresy, and the consequence 
was that the ministry of preaching was forbidden them for two years. 
After this ordeal, through which they had passed, their congregation 
spread only in Italy, for Paul III., in 1537, had forbidden them to es- 
tablish themselves beyond the Alps. This decree was later oq re- 
voked by Gregory XI II., who at the request of Charles IX. allowed 
them to settle in France. Paul V. permitted them to accept convents 
in Spain, and they finally crossed the seas and obtained a portion of 
the foreign missions. 

In 1619 Paul V. exempted them from the jurisdiction of the Con- 
ventuals, to whom they had thus far been subject, and gave to their 
Vicar-General the title of General. 

The Capuchins have until the present day persevered in the exact 
observance of the rule of their holy patriarch. Though little in con- 
formity with the spirit of the world, especially with that of our cen- 
tury of refinement, culture, and luxury, the order has produced men 
of high sanctity and eminent learning. St, Felix of Cantalicio, a sim- 
ple lay-brother, and a friend of St. Philip Neri, was a Capuchin ; Car- 
dinal Anthony Barberiui, brother of Urban VIII., was also a member 
of this order. The celebrated Joseph Le Clerc du Tremblai, called 
the Black Cardinal, a Capuchin friar, was a most influential man in 
France during the reign of Louis XIII. , and in the time of Cardinal 
de Richelieu. The order has also been rendered illustrious by a num- 
ber of distinguished preachers and men of great learning. Among 
those who left a high position in life to clothe themselves with the 
humble garb of St. Francis in the Capuchin order, we mention Alfonso 
d'Este, Duke of Modena, who became a Capuchin in 1626, and Henry, 
Duke of Joyeuse, and marshall of France, who entered the order in 
1587, but left it again in 1 592, with papal dispensation, to join the league 
and head the troops of Languedoc. However, he returned to the 
Capuchins, and spent the rest of his days in great piety. He died 
among them in 1608. He was the father of the Princess de Montpen- 
sier, wife of Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise. 

The Capuchins, who at an earlier period had done missionary duties 
in Maine and in Louisiana, were resurrected in the United States in the 
diocese of Milwaukee by the Rev. Bona venture Frey and the Rev. F. 
Haas. In 1864 these religious established the ecclesiastical seminary 
of St. Laurence of Brindisi in Wisconsin. They obtained several 
other foundations in this country, not only in Wisconsin, but also in 
Michigan and New York. They possess three establishments in the 
latter city. 



248 



HIS TOE Y OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



In the early part of the eighteenth century the Capuchins had served 
as military chaplains to the French in what is now the State of Missis- 
sippi ; they also attended to all the settlements and missions west of the 
Mississippi, from its mouth to a pointopposite the mouth of the Ohio. 
Their Superior resided at New Orleans, and he was Vicar-General of 
the Bishop of Quebec. These Fathers belonged to the province of 
Champagne. 1 In the last century they also possessed missions in the 
French West Indies. 

1 De Courcy, — Shea. 




\ 




NUNS OF ST.CLARE 



SECOND ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. 



ST. CLARE.— RULE OF CARDINAL HUGOLINO.— RULE OF ST. FRANCIS.— 
URBANISTS.— BLESSED COLETTA.— POOR CLARES IN AMERICA. 

TN the year 1193 was born in the city of Assisium, Clare, daughter 
j[ of Favorino Sciffo, of a noble and wealthy family. From her earli- 
est infancy she was a model of every virtue. Desirous of consecrat- 
ing herself entirely to Jesus Christ, and having heard of the admir- 
able life that her fellow-citizen, Francis of Assisi, was leading in his lit- 
tle convent of Portiuncula, she went to see the saint, and had a con- 
ference with him. After several interviews Francis inspired her with 
the resolution of doing for women what he had already accomplished 
for men. On Palm Sunday, March 19th, 12 12, she presented herself 
in the church of Portiuncula, Avhere Francis and his companions re- 
ceived her with lighted candles in their hands. There she renounced 
her worldly ornaments, cut off her hair, and clothed herself with a sack, 
bound round the waist with a cord. Francis then placed her with the 
Benedictines of St. Paul until he could find a convent for her use. 
The entire city was astounded, and the parents of Clare were not a 
little irritated at the action of their daughter. They exerted them- 
selves to the utmost to cause her return to them, but she persevered 
in the resolution she had taken. Sixteen days later her sister Agnes 
joined her in her retreat, nor could her parents succeed in forcing 
her to return to them. These two young girls soon took up their 
abode near the church of St. Damian, and it was here that the order 
of the Nuns of St. Francis began. The following year Saint Clare was 
joined by other companions, and, not long after, her order began to in- 
crease to such an extent that several convents were founded. In 1219 
it obtained a foundation in Spain, and in 1220 one in France. St. 
Francis, seeing the order multiply, objected to prescribe a form of 
government for it and to take its direction upon himself. Cardinal 
Hugolino, having conferred with Pope Honorius III. on the subject, 
abandoned the care of the monastery of St. Damian to St. Francis, 
and charged himself with that of the others, to whom he gave the rule 
of St. Benedict with special constitutions. He also appointed Am- 
brose, of the Order of Citeaux, to be their visitor. He obliged the 

249 



250 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



nuns to fast every day and observe a special abstinence on Wednes- 
days and Fridays. In Lent they were to fast on bread and water three 
times a week, and in Advent twice. They were also to observe perpet- 
ual silence. These nuns continued to follow the rule of St. Benedict 
until St. Francis had given a written rule to the Nuns of St. Damian, 
when most of the monasteries accepted it instead of the former. In 
this rule, given by St. Francis in 1224, the austerities prescribed by 
Cardinal Hugolino underwent certain modifications. For instance, 
the fast on bread and water in Lent and Advent was abolished. 
The daily fast was nevertheless kept up with the single exception of 
the feast of Christmas, The perpetual silence was also modified. 
This rule, of which St. Francis was the author, was at first approved 
by Cardinal Hugolino, who again confirmed it by word of mouth af~ 
ter he had become Pope under the name of Gregory IX. It was ap- 
proved in writing by Innocent IV. in 1246. 

Saint Clare, having led a life of extraordinary virtue and admirable 
austerity, died on August 12, 1253. She was canonized by Alexander 
IV., who became Pope the year after her death. Both before and 
after her departure from this world the order she had founded spread 
with wonderful rapidity. While St. Bonaventure was General of the 
Franciscan order, the friars relinquished the direction of the nuns, 
but only for a time, for during the life of the saint they again assumed 
it at the request of the Cardinal-Protector of the order. 

In the early part of their existence the Nuns of St. Francis were 
called Damianites, on account of the church of St. Damian, where 
their first convent was established. But as they afterwards com- 
menced to differ in their observances, some following the strict rule 
of St. Francis, and others accepting the modifications introduced by 
Gregory IX., Innocent IV., or Alexander IV., they were styled by 
various names, such as those of the Poor Recluses, the Poor Ladies, 
the Sisters Minorites, and the Clarisses. Cardinal Cajetan, Protector 
of the order, desirous of uniting them all under the same name and 
observance, obtained from Pope Urban IV. that they should all be styled 
religious of the Order of St. Clare. He also obtained permission to 
accommodate the ancient rule to the weakness of their sex. He miti- 
gated it, and it was received by most of the convents, except in Spain 
and in Italy, Those who accepted it were henceforward called 
Vrbanists, while those who preferred to live up to the spirit of the 
exact rule given by St. Francis, and follow the extreme poverty prac- 
tised by St. Clare, continued to be called Clarisses. 

The order was reformed in France and in Flanders by St. Coletta r 
who brought it back to the primitive observance. Saint John Capistran, 



SECOND ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. 



251 



in his commentaries on the rule of the Nuns of St. Clare, says that it 
contains one hundred and three precepts obligatory under pain of 
mortal sin. But Eugene IV. declared in 1447 that no point of their 
rule should oblige under pain of mortal sin, except those which con- 
cerned the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and cloister, and 
the election and deposition of the abbess. The same Pope also dis- 
pensed them from various other points of the rule, but these dispen- 
sations were not accepted by all the monasteries, and especially not 
by those of the reform of Blessed Coletta. The various monaster- 
ies continued also to differ in their habit, according to their several in- 
terpretations of the rule. 

Another reform of the Order of Saint Clare was that introduced by 
Mother Francesca of Jesus Mary, in Italy. Its members observe the 
rule of St. Clare to the letter. They call themselves Sisters of the 
Strictest Observance. A reform was also introduced in the same 
country about 1676, that of the Solitaries of the Institute of St.. Peter 
of Alcantara. These religious observe perpetual silence, and never 
speak to persons outside of the convent. They are also barefooted. 

The Order of St. Clare has been rendered illustrious by the lives 
of many saintly personages. St. Catherine of Bologna was one of its 
members. Many persons of royal blood left the world to enroll them- 
selves under the banner of St. Francis and St. Clare. Among these 
we mention St. Hedwigis, queen of Poland; Blessed Salome, queen 
of Hungary; Catherine of Austria, daughter of Albert, count of Haps- 
burg; Anne of Austria, queen of Poland; Agnes, daughter of the em- 
peror Louis of Bavaria; and Blanche, daughter of St. Louis, king of 
France. 

About the year 1792 some Poor Clares, whom the French Revolution 
had driven from their own country, took up their abode at George- 
town, D. C. They were Marie de la Marche, abbess of the Order of 
St. Clare; Celeste la Blonde de la Rochefoucault, and Sister de St. Luc. 
It appears that they had previously possessed a house at Frederick in 
Maryland. In 1801 they purchased a lot on Lafayette St., in George- 
town, of one John Threlkeld. The priests of the college attended to 
their spiritual needs. Though they had opened a school for their sup- 
port, their great poverty forced them to abandon their undertaking, 
and, on the death of the abbess, in 1805, her successor, Madame de la 
Rochefoucault, sold the convent to Bishop Neale, and with her com- 
panion returned to Europe. A sister of Bishop Leonard Neale was 
a member of the Order of St. Clare at Aire in Artois. 1 

1 History of the Catholic Church in the United States,— Henry de Courcy and John 
Gilmary Shea. 



252 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Another convent of Poor Clares was founded at Allegheny town, in 
the neighborhood of Pittsburg, about the year 1828, by Sister Frances 
Van de Vogel, a Flemish nun, who had come from Belgium with one 
of her companions. They established another house at Green Bay, 
Wisconsin, in 1830. After difficulties with Bishop Rese of Detroit, 
concerning matters of jurisdiction, Madame Van de Vogel became 
discouraged, and sold the property in both places. She retired to 
Rome, while some of her religious returned to Belgium, and others 
entered various communities. The Poor Clares have at present con- 
vents in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Omaha, Nebraska. 

A branch of the Order of Clarisses is that of the Capuchin Nuns, 
founded in 1538 at Naples, by Mother Mary Laurence Longa, of a 
noble family of Catalonia, and widow of a noble Neapolitan gentle- 
man. She established a monaster}^, in which she herself took the vows 
of the Third Order of St. Francis at the age of sixty. The Capuchins 
having become the directors of the nuns of this convent about the 
year 1538, their foundress persuaded her religious to give up the Third 
Order to embrace the austere rule of St. Clare. Their austerity 
caused them to be called Daughters of the Passion, and their habit, 
which was that of the Capuchins, obtained for them the name of Capu- 
chin nuns. Mary Longa died, after a saintly life, on December 20, 
1542. After her death the order obtained several convents at Rome, 
Milan, and in France. The Capuchin Nuns follow the rule of St 
Clare with other regulations drawn up for them by the Capuchins. 
They differ from the Clarisses in the habit which they wear in choir. 




THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. 



RULE OF THE THIRD ORDER. — ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES. — PERSECU- 
TIONS. — FAVOR OF THE POPES.— SAINTS. — FRANCISCAN TERTIARIES 
THE FOUNDERS OF ORDERS. 

AFTER instituting the Order of Friars-Minor and that of the Clar- 
isses, and beholding them firmly established, St. Francis began 
to deliberate within himself as to whether it would be better for him 
to continue his preaching or to retire to some solitude where he might 
devote himself entirely to prayer and contemplation. Having dis- 
covered that it was God's will that he should continue to labor at the 
spiritual welfare of his neighbor, he set out with two of his compan- 
ions. In the little town of Camerino, at a short distance from Assisi, 
his words produced such an effect upon the people, that the inhab- 
itants of the place, and many from the neighboring villages, were 
touched to the extent that they desired to abandon all things for God, 
and to go into solitude, — husbands leaving their wives, and wives their 
husbands. St. Francis, however, persuaded them to remain in their 
homes and serve God fervently, at the same time promising soon to pre- 
scribe for them a mode of life, which, though adapted to their state, 
would nevertheless render them in some degree similar to religious. 
This was the origin of the Third Order, which several cities of Tus- 
cany, especially Florence, embraced with the greatest zeal, and to 
which the saint gave the name of the Order of Penitence. In 1221 or 
1222 St. Francis composed the rule of this Third Order. In twenty 
chapters it contains a summary of the maxims of the Gospel. The 
•conditions required for the admission of a candidate into the order 
are first stated. He must be free from debt, from disgrace, and from 
enmity, be an obedient child of the Church, and have the consent of his 
wife, if married, as a wife must have of her husband. Those admitted 
are required to pass a year's novitiate, after which, if they are deemed 
worthy, they are admitted to their profession and the promise to keep 
the commandments of God, and to satisfy for their transgressions 
against the rule, if they are required by the visitor to do so. After 
their profession they are not allowed to leave the order, except to 
become religious. St. Francis prescribed for the members of the 

25S 



254 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Third Order a habit of coarse material, of a color between black and 
white. The Brothers of this order were forbidden to bear arms, ex- 
cept in defence of the Church or their country, or with the permission 
of their superiors, who could also dispense the Sisters in regard to the 
material of their habit. Festivals, comedies, balls, and dances were for- 
bidden them. They were to abstain from meat on Mondays, Wednes- 
days, Fridays, and Saturdays, and to fast from the feast of St. Martin 
until Christmas, and from Quinquagesima Sunday to Easter, and on 
all Wednesdays from All Saints to Quinquagesima, and on all the 
Fridays of the year, except when Christmas fell on that day. These, 
together with other austerities and acts of piety, and other virtues, 
composed the rule which St. Francis gave to his Third Order, and 
which Honorius III. and Gregory IX. approved verbally. It was 
afterwards confirmed by Nicholas IV., by a Bull of 1289, with certain 
changes and additions. Those who entered the Third Order partook 
of all the privileges granted to the Friars-Minor. It spread rapidly in 
Italy and in other states, and emperors, kings, queens, princes, and 
princesses considered it a title of glory to be enrolled among its mem- 
bers. Of the number of famous personages in mediaeval history who 
belonged to the Third Order were the emperor, Charles IV. ; Saint 
Louis, king of France; his mother, Queen Blanche of Castile; his wife r 
Margaret of Provence ; his sister, Blessed Isabella of France; Bela, 
king of Hungary; Saint Elizabeth, landgravin of Thuringia; and Saint 
Elizabeth, queen of Portugal. The great discoverer of America, 
Christopher Columbus, was also a Franciscan Tertiary. 

All good works are subject to opposition, and the Third Order of 
St. Francis had to experience the truth of this, for it had hardly com- 
menced than its members were subjected to an intolerable taxation, 
so much so that Pope Gregory IX., in 1227 and 1228, found himself 
obliged to draw the attention of the bishops of Italy to the fact, and 
insist that Tertiaries should not be taxed more than others. About 
the same time the members of the Third Order had to endure a per- 
secution on the side of the Emperor Frederick II., who opposed the 
Friars-Minor because they upheld the authority of the Holy See. 
Dreading the number and influence of those who had affiliated them- 
selves to the Franciscans by becoming members of the Third Order, 
and considering them, in a certain sense, a bulwark of the rights of 
the Pope, Frederick exercised such a violent persecution against them 
that he deprived them of their goods, and even forbade an}'one to 
harbor them. Among those who experienced his anger was St. Rose 
of Viterbo, who, with her entire family, was sent into exile for having 
brought back by her discourses several heretics and schismatics to 



0 THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. 



255 



the obedience of the Holy See. This persecution lasted until the 
death of the emperor, which took place in 1250. 

The Third Order was subjected to a new persecution on the occa- 
sion of the condemnation of certain heretics, with whom they were 
confounded by the populace. In the thirteenth century heretics in 
Germany, under the guise of Franciscan religious and the name of 
Begghards, Beguins, and Fraticelli, had spread over to Italy, dissemi- 
nating their false doctrines. They were condemned by the General 
Council of Vienne in 131 1. Unfortunately the members of the Third 
Order in Flanders were also called Begghards, out of devotion to St. 
Beggha, while in Toulouse they bore the name of Bechins and Bech- 
inesses, after their founder, a certain Bechin. This caused them to be 
confounded with the aforementioned heretics, and subjected by the 
people to a severe persecution, which ceased only when Pope John 
XXII., being informed of the matter, positively declared that they were 
not included in the condemnation of the heretics. After this justifica- 
tion by the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff, the order made 
new progress, and it was enriched with many privileges by the Sov- 
ereign Pontiffs. From its cradle it has produced a great number of 
saints, among whom we mention the names of St. Louis, king of 
France ; Saint Elzear, count of Arien, and his wife, St. Delphina ; Saint 
Ivo, Saint Roch, Saint Conrad, Saint Elizabeth, of Hungary ; Saint 
Elizabeth, of Portugal ; Saint Bridget, of Sweden ; Saint Frances, of 
Rome ; Saint Viridiana, Saint Luce, Saint Angela, of Corbara ; Saint 
Rosa, of Viterbo ; Saint Humiliana, Blessed Lucius, and Blessed Co- 
letta, of Corbie. Among the many illustrious persons, besides those 
already mentioned, who belonged to the Third Order, were : Philip 
III., king of Spain ; Elizabeth of France, wife of Philip IV., of Spain ; 
Mary of Austria, wife of the emperor, Ferdinand III., and her elder 
sister, Anne, of Austria, queen of France and mother of Louis XIV. ; 
and Mary-Theresa, wife of the same monarch. The Infanta Isabella 
Clara Eugenia, regent of the Netherlands, received, after the death of 
her husband, the Archduke Albert, the habit of the Third Order, and 
wore it publicly until her death, in 1633. 

In some countries it was customary for the members of the Third 
Order to wear a distinct habit, consisting of a brown or grey 
tunic with a white cord. Some of the men wore a hat, and others a 
hood, and the women a white veil. Several religious orders acknowl- 
edge as their founders persons who belonged to the Third Order of 
St. Francis. Thus Blessed Thomasucio established the Jeronimites 
of Spain; Blessed Charles of Montegravello, the Hermits of St. Jerome 
of Fiesole ; Saint John Colombini, the Jesuates ; Blessed Isabella of 



256 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



France, the Order of the Humility of Our Lady. Blessed Coletta 
of Corby reformed the first and second Order of St. Francis ; Blessed 
Mary Longa founded the Order ot Capuchin Nuns ; Saint Bridget 
established that of Our Saviour ; Saint Frances of Rome founded the 
Oblates, who bear her name ; Cardinal de Berulle was the founder of 
the French Oratory ; M. Olier established the Congregation of Saint 
Sulpice; and Blessed Amedeus, Duke of Savoy, founded the Military 
Order of Saint Maurice. 

Several members of the Third Order, striving for a higher perfec- 
tion, united into religious congregations with vows, differing from 
each other bv their habit and their observances. Thus were ori^i- 
nated the Congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis in Italy ; 
those of Spain, Portugal, and France, the Begghards of Flanders, the 
Grey Nuns, and many more. 




RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS OF PENITENTS OF THE 
THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS FOR MEN. 



CONGREGATION OF LOMBARDY. — THIRD ORDER IN GERMANY. — IN 
SPAIN. — DIFFICULTIES WITH THE OBSERVANTS. — IN FRANCE. — CON- 
GREGATION OF PICPUS. — FATHER HELYOT. 

IT is not certain from what precise epoch the Regular Tertiaries of St. 
Francis justly date their origin, but it is probable, as Helyot says, 
that they existed a few years after the death of the holy founder. 
These religious are divided into various congregations. 

That of Lombardy originated from different independent commun- 
ities of Regular Tertiary Franciscans in Italy, who, in 1448, were 
united into one body under a Vicar-General by Pope Nicholas V. 
They obtained a General of their own in 1458, and continued thus to 
be governed for more than a century, when, in 1568, Pius V. sub- 
jected all the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis to 
the jurisdiction of the Minister-General of the Observantines. In 1 586, 
however, Sixtus V. again permitted them to elect a General. 

This congregation was at one time very prosperous, and it possessed 
as many as thirty provinces. It has produced several persons emi- 
nent for the sanctity of their life and for their learning. 

There had existed congregations of Regular Franciscan Tertiaries 
in Sicily, Dalmatia, and Istria, but these were afterward united to 
that of Lombard}^. The Congregation of Begghards in Belgium, thus 
called from their monastery at Antwerp, dedicated to St. Beggha, was 
united to the Congregation of Lombardy in 1650, during the pontificate 
of Innocent X. They had first enjoyed a separate existence together 
with the Congregation of Zepperen, to which they had been united in 
1472. 

There had been in Germany a number of convents belonging to the 
Third Order of St. Francis, which in 1612 were either in ruins or in- 
habited by religious who not only neglected, but who were even ig- 
norant of their rules. John Baptist Gramay, Vicar-Apostolic in that 
country, a member of the Third Order, wrote about the same year to 
Anthony de Lillis, General of the Third Order in Italy, exhorting him 
to unite those convents to the Congregation of Italy; but the letter had- 

257 



258 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



no effect. The successor of Anthony de Lillis, Francis Guastamiglia, 
made an attempt to effect this union, but he was not successful. The 
religious of the Third Order in Germany were divided into various 
congregations. Many of their convents were ruined by the heretics. 
There were in Ireland thirty-six convents of the same order for men, 
but they have all disappeared. 

The religious of the Third Order possessed convents in Spain from the 
beginning of the fifteenth century, and they were there divided into 
two congregations, one in the kingdom of Granada and in Andalusia, 
the other in the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and Galicia. These con- 
gregations were afterward united under a common General Superior. 
They had a General of their own until the year 1568, when Pius V. 
subjected all the religious of the Third Order to the General and the 
Provincials of the Observantines, The latter endeavoring to force 
them to make profession in the First Order, the Sovereign Pontiff de- 
clared by a brief that it was not his intention to suppress the Third 
Order of St. Francis in Spain, but merely to reform it. However, the 
Fathers of the Observance did all they could to destroy this institu- 
tion, forbidding the reception of novices. The difficulties were finally 
settled by the prudent exertions of following Generals. The institu- 
tion of the Third Order of St. Francis for men has ceased to exist 
since the regency of Maria Christina of Naples, wife of Ferdinand 
VII. 

The regular observance of the Third Order among men was intro- 
duced into Portugal about 1444 by two religious of the province of 
Lyons. It obtained several establishments in this kingdom, and 
among others, a magnificent convent in Lisbon. These religious 
established, in 1603, a foundation in Africa at Loanda, in the kingdom 
of Angola. It was destroyed by the Dutch in. 1641, but again re-es- 
tablished when the kingdom once more came into possession of the 
Portuguese. 

The Regular Franciscan Tertiaries in Portugal were at first subject 
to the General of the Third Order in Spain, but in 1610 they began 
to have as Commissary General an Observantine friar, and for a time 
they were also under the jurisdiction of the Capuchins. In 1663 they 
obtained visitors of the Third Order. The Regular Tertiaries in 
Portugal were men of great edification, and many of them were of 
distinguished merit. 

The Regular Order of Franciscan Tertiaries began in France as 
early as 1287, and made such progress that at the end of the thir- 
teenth century it possessed several provinces. It had fallen into a 
state of decadence in the sixteenth century when Vincent Mussart 



« 



THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS FOR MEN. 259 

undertook to reform it. This saintly man was born in Paris on March 
3, 1570. After a youth spent in piety he was ordained subdeacon by 
the Bishop of Senlis, and, soon after, he became a member of the Third 
Order of St. Francis, in the confraternity of the Grey Penitents. 
Having made a retreat under the guidance of F. Georges, of the So- 
ciety of Jesus, he felt within himself an ardent desire to make his 
profession in the Third Order, and to bring it back to its first condition 
of fervor, and concluded that this was the will of God in his regard. 
After the retreat he joined a hermit who lived in the neighborhood 
of Paris, and they both took up their abode in the desert of Senar, be- 
tween Corbeil and Melun. From here they removed to Val-Adam, a 
still greater solitude. Some time later they were joined by a few 
companions, and after moving from place to place, they finally settled 
at Franconville-sous-Bois, in the diocese of Beauvais, where, in 1594, 
they laid the foundations of their congregation. After a year's novi- 
tiate they made the solemn profession of the third rule in the hands of 
a member of the Order of Friars-Minor, on September 1st, 1595. The 
General of the Order of St. Francis, having ratified this profession, 
permitted Father Vincent Mussart to receive candidates into his con- 
gregation and establish new convents. In 1601 these Tertiaries 
founded a convent near Paris, in a place called Picpus, whence their 
institution became known as the Congregation of Picpus. 1 In 1603 the 
ancient houses of the Third Order in France were, in virtue of a Bull 
of Clement VIII., united with the new congregation, and Father Vin- 
cent Mussart was elected provincial. Their constitutions were con- 
firmed by Paul V. in 16 13. After its division into provinces, the con- 
gregation was governed by a Vicar-General, to which office F. Mussart 
was the first to be elected. The reformer died on August 13, 1637, in 
his convent of Picpus. 

The religious of this congregation wore sandals, and, like the Capu- 
chins, a long beard. They followed the rule of the Third Order, re- 
formed by Leo X., together with several additions. The most dis- 
tinguished member of this congregation was the author whom we have 
followed in the composition of this work, Father Helyot, religious 
of the convent of Picpus. Peter Helyot was born in Paris in 1660, 
and at the age of twenty-three he entered the Third Order of St. 
Francis in the Congregation of Picpus, and in the monastery of that 
name, of which his uncle, Jerome Helyot, had been a special benefactor. 
He received the habit in 1683 with the name of Brother Hippolyte, 
and soon distinguished himself by his love of study, and he gamed the 
affection of his superiors and confreres. It was on a voyage to Rome, 

1 Not to be confounded with a more recent congregation of the same name. 



260 HIS TOE Y OF RELIG1 0 US ORDERS. 

whither he was sent probably for the affairs of his order, that he con- 
ceived the design of the gigantic work that has rendered his name im- 
mortal. The position of provincial secretary, which he filled for a con- 
siderable time, gave him the opportunity of travelling about, and thus 
collecting the material for his work. Many learned men assisted him 
generously in his task, at which he labored most conscientiously. He 
also wrote in all directions to obtain the necessary information. He 
frequently received courteous replies to his letters, but it sometimes 
happened that they were ignored, for in the days of Helyot, as in our 
days, there were indifferent persons, who never gave themselves the 
trouble to reply; among these was the Superior-General of a religious 
congregation. During the time that he was engaged in composing 
his large work, Helyot also produced several other books, such as the 
Dying Christian, published in 1705. In I7i4the first two volumes of his 
"History of Religions Orders" made their appearance. The third 
and fourth volumes followed in 171 5, the three following came out in 
171 8, and the last one saw the light in the following year. Twenty-five 
years of patient labor had been spent in the achievement of this most 
useful and standard work.' The author had not the satisfaction of be T 
holding his entire work given to the public, for he died on January 5, 
1716. 

Without the labors of Helyot, it would have been impossible for us 
to undertake the task at which we are now laboring, and to give our 
English and American readers an opportunity of forming wider ac- 
quaintance with the religious orders of the Church. Helyot has been 
our master and our guide, and we therefore gratefully insert this 
biographical sketch of the good religious and assiduous writer who 
has rendered our own task comparatively easy. 

Among the various congregations of the Third Order of St. Francis, 
that of the Obregons or Friars-Infirmarian Minims, founded in the 
sixteenth century by the Spaniard, Bernardin de Obregon, deserves 
mention. They were Hospitallers devoted to the care of the sick, and 
they existed in Spain, Portugal, Flanders, and in the Indies. 

A branch of the Third Order of St. Francis was founded in Ireland 
about 1821 at Mount Bellew, County Gal way, by Rev. Michael Ber- 
nard Dillon, a Friar-Minor. It consists of Brothers who devote them- 
selves, first, to the education of youth, and secondarily to manual labor. 
Father Dillon was appointed their Superior by the Provincial of the 
Franciscans in Ireland, and he held this office until his death, in 1828. 
In 1837 the Brothers obtained permission of the Holy See to depend 
solely upon the Right Rev. John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam. 
They were introduced into this country by Bishop O'Connor of Pitts- 



THIRD ORDER OF ST FRANCIS FOR MEN, 



261 



burg- in 1847, an d they founded a house at Loretto, Pa., where they 
established their novitiate. They opened several schools in the diocese 
of Pittsburg. In 1848 the Brothers in Pennsylvania obtained per- 
mission to be subject entirely to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
Pittsburg. The Franciscan Brothers possess also a flourishing college 
in the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., where they are subject to the jurisdiction 
of the Ordinary, 



FEMALE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS OF THE THIRD 
ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. 



ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY. — BLESSED ANGELINA OF CORBARA. — HOS- 
PITALLERS. — VARIOUS CONGREGATIONS. 

THE first female Tertiary of the Order of St. Francis to take solemn 
vows was St. Elizabeth of Hungary, born in the year 1207. She 
married Louis, landgrave of Thuringia, and in the matrimonial state, 
as well as during the time of her maidenhood, she led the life of a 
saint. She was the first person in Germany to enter the Third Order 
of St. Francis, which had shortly before been established. After the 
death of her husband, in 1227, she was violently deprived of her states, 
and even driven out of her palace, but the humiliations she endured 
drew her nearer to God, and, having entered the church of the Friars- 
Minor, she besought the brethren to sing the Te Deum to thank the 
Divine Majesty for having sent her those crosses. The saint died on 
November 19, 1231. Although St. Elizabeth of Hungary does not ap- 
pear to have founded an order, the Regular Franciscan Tertiary Nuns 
agree in considering her their mother and patroness, as she took the 
habit of St. Francis, bound herself by vows, and, as some authors as- 
sert, entered into a monastery. 

The acknowledged foundress of the nuns of the Third Order of St. 
Francis is Blessed Angelina of Corbara. She was born in 1377 in the 
kingdom of Naples, and from her earliest years gave evidence of the 
greatest piety. In obedience to the will of her father, she married the 
count of Civitella, but without prejudice to her virginity, for both her- 
self and her husband bound themselves by a vow of chastity, and lived as 
brother and sister. After the death of the count, Angelina, together 
with her maids, took the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis. 
After enduring many persecutions, she founded a monastery of the 
Third Order at Foligny, with the consent of the Bishop and of Pope 
Boniface IX., in 1397. In 1421 her religious, with permission of Mar- 
tin V., began other foundations in various parts of Italy. The same 
Pope, by a Bull of 1328, united all these monasteries into one congre- 
gation, permitting the nuns to elect one of their number as Superior- 
General, who was at the same time to be subject to the General of the 



FEMALE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS. 



263 



Friars-Minor of the Observance. In 1459 the office of General in their 
congregation was suppressed by Pius II. They nevertheless re- 
mained subject to the Observantines until 148 1, when they passed over 
to the jurisdiction of the Amadeists, who also formed part of the Francis- 
can family. But these latter religious being suppressed, some of the 
convents of the nuns returned to the jurisdiction of the Observants, 
while the rest became subject to the Bishops of their respective" dio- 
ceses. 

Blessed Angelina had died many years before, in 1435, in her con- 
vent of Foligny. The monasteries of her order began gradually to fol- 
low different observances, being placed under separate jurisdictions. 

Almost from its infancy the Brethren and Sisters of the Third Or- 
der had begun to devote themselves to the care of the sick, and thus 
various congregations of Hospitallers w r ere formed among them, such 
as the Obregons for men. The Sisters bound themselves by solemn 
vows from the beginning of their institution, and belonged to various 
congregations bearing different names. Some attended to the sick 
outside of their convents, while others administered to them only in hos- 
pitals, and they were therefore known as Hospitallers. Many of them 
bore the name of Grey Nuns, from the color of their habit, although 
in various convents this color was afterward changed. 

We have seen that a reform had been introduced among the Ter- 
tiaries of France, which obtained the name of Congregation of Picpus, 
from its monastery at Paris. A similar reform was about the same 
time introduced in that country among the female religious. These 
nuns of the Strict Observance suffered greatly during the French Rev- 
olution, but they were again established in France in our century. 

Another reform among the nuns of the Third Order was that of the 
Recollectines. It was established in Belgium in the seventeenth 
century. Numerous other congregations of women belonging to the 
Third Order of St. Francis, of which the members bind themselves 
by simple vows, have at different times been established. Among 
these we mention the Franciscan Sisters at Heythuizen, in Holland, 
who devote themselves to the education of youth ; those of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, whose object is the care of the sick in their houses and in 
hospitals. The Sisters of Aix-la-Chapelle possess flourishing establish- 
ments in this country, and, among others, St. Peter's hospital in Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. A congregation of Franciscan Tertiaries has a mother- 
house at Syracuse, N„ Y. ; their principal occupation is teaching and 
the care of the sick. They have branch establishments in the Sand- 
wich Islands, and attend the lepers on the island of Molokai. 

A congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis was established 



264 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



in Philadelphia, on April 9, 1855, by the servant of God, John Nep- 
omucene Neumann. This saintly man, the cause of whose canoniza- 
tion has been introduced, was born at Prachatitz in Bohemia, on March 
28th, 181 1. He came to America while still an ecclesiastical student, 
and he was raised to the priesthood by Bishop Dubois of New York, 
on June 25, 1836. He labored as a secular priest in the northern por- 
tion of New York state until 1840, when he became a Redemptorist. 
i\Iter filling various positions of trust in the congregation, in 1852 he 
was appointed Bishop of Philadelphia. 

On a visit to Rome he expressed to Pius IX. the desire of intro- 
ducing Dominican Sisters into his diocese. The Holy Father here- 
upon advised him rather to establish a branch of the Franciscan or- 
der. On his return to America he immediately set to work, and 
called from Germany the Conventual Franciscans in order to form the 
members of his new institute. The little community of Sisters con- 
sisted of five members, of which Mother Mary Frances was the Super- 
ior. The Bishop himself prepared their constitutions. Four years af- 
ter its establishment the new congregation possessed four houses, de- 
voted to the care of the sick and the instruction of youth. 

A new compilation of rules and constitutions was drawn up in the 
year 1880. The fundamental rule of the congregation is that of the 
Third Order of St. Francis. The Sisters labor especially for the 
Christian renovation and elevation of family life among the poorer and 
lower classes of society. They educate youth in parochial schools, 
and care for the sick in public institutions, as well as at their homes. 
They also accept the care of orphan asylums and other similar works 
of charity. 

The mother-house of this congregation is in the city of Philadelphia, 
and the Archbishop of that See confirms the election of the General- 
Superior, and gives permission for the reception of the Sisters to their 
profession. No house of the congregation may be founded, either 
within the diocese or outside of it, without his permission. 

This congregation possesses houses not only in the diocese of Phil- 
adelphia, but also in those of Baltimore, Trenton, Harrisburg, Oregon 
City, the Indian Territory, Nesqually, and others. 

The saintly founder of the congregation, Bishop Neumann, died on 
January 5th, i860. 



I 



4 




FRANCISCAN NUNS 



ORDERS OF THE CONCEPTION AND THE 
ANNUNCIATION. 



BEATRIX DA SILVA. — ISABEL OF CASTILE. — CARDINAL XIMENES. — 
CHANGE OF RULE. — BLESSED JANE OF VALOIS. — LOUIS XII. — ORDER 
OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 

r PHE two great Catholic countries rendered illustrious throughout 
their history by the lives of so many saints and servants of God 
gave birth to these two orders. Spain beheld the infancy of the for- 
mer, and France that of the latter. Both honor as their foundresses 
persons of noble blood. 

Beatrix da Silva, sister of James I., count of Portalegra, was a lady 
of the court of Elizabeth, wife of John II. of Castile. Many were the 
snares laid for her innocence in the midst of the worldly vanities that 
surrounded her, but her young heart remained proof against the se- 
ductions of the world. Beatrix was the centre of attraction. The 
jealousy of the queen was hereby aroused, and the innocent girl be- 
came the object of the persecution of her royal mistress. This, to- 
gether with the dangers she encountered, caused her to abandon the 
court and go to Toledo, where she took refuge in a monastery of 
Dominican nuns. Forty years were spent in this monastery; they 
were as many years of rigorous austerity and great seclusion. She 
permitted no one to see her except Queen Isabella, wife of Ferdinand, 
and daughter of her former mistress. Several revelations with which 
she had been favored, and her devotion towards the Blessed Virgin 
inspired her with the idea of founding an order in honor of the Im- 
maculate Conception. Queen Isabella, to whom she spoke on the 
subject, was so pleased with the thought that she offered her the pal- 
ace of Galliana. Accompanied by twelve women, who left the con- 
vent of St. Dominic to embrace her institution, Beatrix took posses- 
sion of her new home in 1484. She gave to her companions a white 
habit and scapular with a blue mantle. In 1489 Pope Innocent VIII., 
at the request of Queen Isabella, permitted the foundation, allowing it 
to adopt the rule of Citeaux, under the jurisdiction of the diocesan 
Bishop, and granting to the Sisters the privilege of reciting the Little 
Office of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Blessed Beatrix da 

265 



266 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Silva died before the day appointed for the solemn reception of the 
habit by her religious. She made her profession on her death-bed, 
and expired on September ist, 1490. Her Sisters, after their profes- 
sion, became subject to the Archbishop of Toledo, who was then Car- 
dinal Ximenes. This illustrious man, believing that the new orde 
would fare better if it were under the direction of the Friars-Mino 
who have always been the defenders of the Immaculate Conceptioi 
agreed with the queen to place it under the jurisdiction of these relig- 
ious, and give to it the rule of St. Clare. The sovereign obtained 
permission to this effect Irom Pope Alexander VI., but the abbess, a 
niece of the foundress, with several others, refused to accept the rule 
of St. Clare, and went over to the monastery of St. Elizabeth. Those 
who remained Were united with the Benedictine nuns of the monas- 
tery of Saint Peter de las Duenas, by order of the Pope and the consent 
of the abbess and religious of that monastery, who agreed to submit to 
the rule of St. Clare and embrace the Order of the Conception. They 
were all then transferred to the monastery of St. Francis, which had 
belonged to the Conventuals. In 1506 Julius II. confirmed the acts 
of his predecessors, and gave a special rule to the Nuns of the Concep- 
tion. The order obtained several other foundations in Spain, Italy, 
and France. The seclusion of these nuns was very great. After 
their profession they were never allowed to speak to seculars, not 
even their nearest relatives, but Pope Clement X. modified this rule 
by allowing them to speak twice a month with their relations in the 
first degree, except during Advent and Lent. 

The same century that witnessed the establishment of the Order of 
the Conception beheld also that of the Annunciation. Blessed Jane 
of Valois, queen of France, was its foundress. She was a daughter of 
Louis XL, and was married to the Duke of Orleans, contrary to the 
inclination of the latter, who protested against the violence done to 
him. In consequence of this, the princess, whose virginity remained 
intact, was treated by the duke with the greatest indifference. Hav- 
ing ascended the throne of France in 1498 under the name of Louis 
XII., he obtained a decree of the commissaries appointed by i\lexan- 
der VI., annulling his marriage on the ground that he had never con- 
sented to it. The queen now retired to Bourges, where she gave the 
greatest edification by her exemplary conduct. For a long time she 
had revolved in her mind the plan of founding a congregation in honor 
of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. Her confessor, Father 
Gilbert Nicolai, a Franciscan, did not, however, approve of it, and 
two years passed before she was able to put it into execution, until 
her confessor finally allowed her to follow the attraction of her heart. 



ORDERS OF THE CONCEPTION AND THE ANN UNCI A TION 267 



With his aid she soon established a little community, to which she 
gave a rule she composed under the title of the Ten Virtues of the 
Blessed Virgin, which she proposed to the imitation of her Sisters. 
St. Francis de Paula, who was then in France, gave her great encour- 
gement, and the work advanced. She received permission of the 
ing to found a monastery at Bourges, but could not obtain the ap- 
robation of Alexander VI., .who, though inclined to grant it, was 
ieterred by the Cardinals unfavorable to the establishment of new 
orders. In 1501, however, the Pope finally consented to confirm her 
rule, and granted many privileges to those who professed it. The 
queen gave the veil to five Sisters on October 8, 1502, and thus com- 
menced her order. Their habit was to consist of a grey robe, scarlet 
scapular, blue shoulder-covering, and white mantle. The shoulder- 
covering was afterwards changed into a ribbon of the same color, to 
which a silver medal was attached. The queen herself made her sol- 
emn profession in 1503. However, by the advice of her confessor, 
she continued to dwell in her palace, but she frequently visited her 
Sisters. Blessed Jane of Valois, having finished her work, jdied on 
February 4th, 1504 or 1505. After her death it was discovered that 
she wore a hair shirt and a chain of iron around her waist. Her or- 
der obtained several new foundations in France and Belgium through 
the instrumentality of Father Gilbert Nicolai, known after the foun- 
dation of the order as Gabriel Mary, a name given to him by Alexan- 
der VI. He became Superior of the order, and died in 1532. He had 
obtained, in 1 5 14, from Leo X., the confirmation of the rule. The same 
Pope placed the Sisters under the jurisdiction of the Order of St. Fran- 
cis. The obligation of observing the fasts of the rule and of wearing 
the habit was rendered obligatory under pain of mortal sin, but it 
was in the power of the Mother-Superior to dispense herein as well as 
in the recitation of the Office, with the advice of her councillors and 
the superiors, or of the confessor. 




ORDER OF THE MINIMS. 



ST. FRANCIS DE PAULA. — HIS HUMILITY. — QUADRAGESIMAL VOW.— 
SPREAD OF THE ORDER. 

'pHE founder of the Minim order, St. Francis de Paula, was born in 



Calabria, in the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1416, and he received 
his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. He was pious from his 
earliest childhood, and corresponded entirely to the careful education 
he received from his parents. At the age of thirteen they placed him 
in a convent of Franciscan Friars. He did not, however, enter this 
order, but after a year returned to his parents. He then retired into 
solitude and began to lead a most austere life. His reputation having 
spread in Calabria, several persons, desirous of imitating his virtues, 
joined him, although he was then only nineteen years of age. This 
took place about the year 1435. Returning with his disciples to the 
neighborhood of his birthplace, they built cells and a little chapel. 
Here they were called Hermits of St. Francis, probably from the fact 
of their chapel being dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. They dwelt 
together in this place for ten years, until they established a second 
foundation, in 1444, at Paterna. In 1453 a third foundation was estab- 
lished at Spezano-il- Grande, and a fourth one at Cortona, in 1460. The 
saint went from one monastery to the other to instruct his religious, 
who thus far possessed no special rule, save the word and example of 
their master. In 1473 the order was approved by Pope Sixtus IV., 
under the name of Hermits of St. Francis, and in the following year 
the Sovereign Pontiff appointed St. Francis de Paula Superior-General 
of his order, which he at the same time exempted from the jurisdiction 
of the Bishops. 

" He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 1 These words 
contain a truth, the verification of which forces itself upon our 
attention as we study human history. If the fulfilment of their 
counterpart : " Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled," is 
constantly manifested in the downfall of so many of the world's great- 
est men, the exaltation of the humble is one of the great facts re- 
vealed to us in the lives of God's saints, and in none more so than in that 
of the humble religious who called the institution he had founded the 

1 Luke xviii. 14. 





MINIME FRIARS 




MINIME NUNS 



ORDER OF THE MINIMS. 



269 



order of the minimi, or of the least of the brethren. That which touched 
even his enemies was his deep humility. The Sovereign Pontiff would 
have raised him to ecclesiastical dignities, but the only honor he asked 
for, refusing all others, was the permission to bless rosaries and other 
objects of piety. And yet this man, so deeply sunken in his own es- 
timation, was perhaps the most honored individual of his day. His 
friendship was esteemed by sovereigns, who loaded him with honors. 
The invalid Louis XI. of France implored the acknowledged miracle- 
worker of the age to fly to his assistance, but only the will of the Vicar 
of Christ could force the humble religious out of his solitude. The 
Pope himself received the saint with the greatest marks of esteem. 
A striking incident is related of the interview between St. Francis de 
Paula and Sixtus IV. The saint desired to introduce into his order 
the vow of perpetual abstinence, or, as it was termed, the quadrages- 
imal or Lenten vow, but the Pope did not seem to be inclined to hear 
of it. St. Francis, without insisting further, took by the hand the Car- 
dinal de la Rovera, and said to the Sovereign Pontiff that this Cardinal 
would some time grant what His Holiness seemed inclined to refuse. 
The prophetic words were fulfilled, for Cardinal de la Rovera, having 
become Pope Julius II., approved the rule of the Minims, together 
with the quadragesimal vow. 

The Order of the Minims was established in France in the reign of 
Charles VIII., and while the saint himself was in that kingdom, whither 
he had gone at the request of the deceased king, Louis XL, a short time 
after it had entered Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. The rule of the 
order was not composed by St. Francis until 1493. It was subsequently 
approved by Alexander VI. at the recommendation of the king of 
France, and the Sovereign Pontiff changed the name of the religious 
from that of the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi to that of Minims of 
the Brother Hermits of Francis de Paula. The same Pope con- 
ferred upon them all the privileges of the mendicant orders. Two years 
later, in 1497, the holy founder sent his religious to Germany, at the 
request of the emperor Maximilian. Having perfected his first rule 
and established the quadragesimal vow, and also composed a rule for 
persons living in the world, both of which obtained the approbation 
of the Holy See, St. Francis saw his death approach. It found him 
in the strictest retirement, in his monastery of Plessis-les-Tours, in 
France, on April 2d, 1507, which day fell on Good-Friday. He was 
canonized in 15 19 by Leo X. The year after the saint's death, Father 
Francis Binet was elected General of the order, which was then divided 
into the five different provinces of Italy, Tours, France, Spain, and Ger- 
many. At the time that Helyot wrote its history it had increased to 



270 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



such an extent that it possessed thirty-one provinces : twelve in Italy, 
eleven in France and Flanders, seven in Spain, and one in Germany. 

The distinctive feature of the Order of the Minims is the fourth vow, 
by which they bind themselves to observe perpetual abstinence. They 
originally wore sandals, but they were afterwards dispensed in the 
observance of this point of their rule. The color of their habit is black, 
and they wear around their waist a knotted cord of the same color. 
Their quadragesimal vow obliges them not only to abstain from meat, 
but also from eggs, butter, cheese, and everything prepared therewith, 
and this both at home and when out of their monasteries. An exception 
is nevertheless made for those who are seriously ill. Their fast is 
not as rigorous as that of many of the older orders. Their superiors are 
called correctors. The object of the order is both contemplative and 
active, as its members devote themselves to the work of the ministry by 
the preaching of the word of God and the hearing of confessions. 

A female branch of the order had been founded in 1495, several years 
before the death of the holy founder. Spain was the country of its 
origin. St. Francis de Paula composed a rule for these nuns in 1506, 
which, with few exceptions, was like that of the Brothers. This branch 
of the order spread to other countries, such as France and Italy. Saint 
Francis also established a third order for persons living in the world, al- 
though some of its members dwelt in community. Paul III. even per- 
mitted the members of a community of Minim Tertiaries at Toledo 
in Spain to bind themselves by solemn vows. At present the Third 
Order consists only of secular persons. 



ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 

EARLY LIFE OF ST. DOMINIC. — THE ALBIGENSIANS. — FOUNDATION OF 
THE ORDER.— APPROBATION OF THE RULES. — MASTER OF THE SA- 
CRED PALACE. — PROPAGATION OF THE ORDER. — THE INQUISITION — 
THE ORDER IN AMERICA. 

SAINT Dominic was born in 1 170, at Calahorra, in Old Castile, in the 
diocese of Osma, of the illustrious house of the Guzmans. The Duke 
of Medina-Sidonia, 1 chief of this noble house, is the acknowledged 
patron of the whole Order of St. Dominic. The mother of the saint, 
whilst having him in her womb, dreamt that she brought forth a dog, 
which carried in its mouth a burning torch that set the world on fire. 
This explains why the Arms of the Dominicans contain the figure 
of a dog with a torch in its mouth. From his earliest childhood the 
saint evinced the tenderest sentiments of piety. At the age of 14 he 
was sent to the public schools of Palencia, which were soon after 
transferred to Salamanca. Dominic here became proficient in rhet- 
oric, philosophy, and theology. When 28 years old he embraced the 
Institute of Regular Canons of St. Augustine in the diocese of Osma. 
Soon after he accompanied his Bishop into France. The Bishop hav- 
ing obtained permission of Pope Innocent III. to work at the conver- 
sion of the Albigenses, Dominic remained with him. For two years 
they labored in Languedoc, at the end of which the Bishop returned 
to his diocese, leaving Dominic as his successor in the same apostolic 
work. 

It was during his sojourn among the Albigenses that he instituted 
the celebrated devotion of the Rosary, by which he obtained the 
most marvellous results. 

Not until 121 5 did he lay the foundations of his Order of Preaching 
Friars, the plan of which he had meditated some time before. The 
principal aim of the saint by this institution was to multiply in the 
Church zealous preachers, who by their word and example might be a 
means of spreading the light of faith and the fire of divine charity. 
The Bishops of Languedoc and Provence, to whom he communicated 
his design, all approved of it, and pressed him to hasten its execution. 

Sixteen of his fellow-missionaries joined him, and Peter Cellani, one 

1 While in Spain, the author had the pleasure of meeting this nobleman. 

271 



272 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of their number, gave some houses in Toulouse, in which they formed 
themselves into a regular community under the protection of the Bish- 
op. This was the first convent of the order. St. Dominic then went 
to Rome, where he was most kindly received by Pope Innocent III. 
According to Theodoric, Bishop of Orvieto, and Vincent of Beau vais, the 
Pope at first made some difficulty in approving the new order upon the 
ground that too great a multiplication of orders would bring confu- 
sion. But they add that the night following the Pope dreamt he saw 
the Lateran church in danger of falling, and that St. Dominic stepped 
in and supported it with his shoulders. However that may be, the 
fact is that the Pope approved the new order by word of mouth, 
bidding the founder draw up the constitutions and lay them before 
him. On his return to Toulouse, after consulting with his colleagues, 
St. Dominic chose for his order the rule of St. Augustine. He ad- 
ded special constitutions, and borrowed from the Order of Premonstra- 
tensians the custom of observing perpetual abstinence from flesh-meat, 
and a rigorous fast from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross to 
Easter. He arrived at Rome with a copy of his rules in September, 
1216. Pope Honorius III., who had succeeded Pope Innocent, con- 
firmed the order and its constitutions by two Bulls, both dated in 
December of the same year. It was about this period that the Pope 
created the dignity of Master, of the Sacred Palace, who, in virtue of 
his office, as the Pope's domestic theologian, assists at all consistories, 
whether public or private, confers the degree of Doctor at Court, ap- 
proves all theses and books, and nominates the Pope's preachers. Pope 
Honorius imposed this charge upon St. Dominic, and it has ever since 
been committed to one of his order. 

With the consent of His Holiness, Dominic returned to Toulouse 
in May, and spent some time in forming his brethren to the practise 
of a religious life, The extraordinary reputation of St. Dominic and 
his friars attracted many learned and eminent men to the new order, 
and the saint established convents at Lyons, Montpelier, Bayonne, and 
other places. He returned to Rome in 1217, and the Pope gave him 
the church of St. Sixtus in that city. Here the saint built a monastery. 
Having given up St. Sixtus to nuns, whom he had undertaken to re- 
form, he built a new convent for his friars at Santa Sabina. St. Domi- 
nic soon after gave the habit of his order to Saints Hyacinth and 
Ceslaus, nephews of the Bishop of Cracow. In 1218 he founded a mon- 
astery at Segovia, and another at Madrid, in Spain. The following 
year he established convents at Paris, and in several other places in 
France and Italy. 

* In 1220 Pope Honorius III. confirmed upon St. Dominic the title 



ORDER OF ST. DOMIXIC. 



273 



of General, and the saint held the first general chapter of his order at 
Bologna, on Pentecost Sunday of the same year. During his lifetime 
the holy patriarch sent his friars into Morocco, Portugal, Sweden, 
Norway, Ireland, and England. In the second general chapter, held 
at Bologna in 1221, he divided his order into eight provinces, and 
sent some of his religious into Hungary, Greece, Palestine, and other 
countries. The saint died at Bologna on August 6, 1221, being 51 
years old. 

One of the greatest objects of the solicitude of St. Dominic had 
been to prevent riches from becoming the portion and the bane of his 
order. He strenuously refused to accept large or superfluous dona- 
tions, and desired to cut off all superfluities. St. Francis of Assisium, 
a great friend of St. Dominic, coming to Bologna in 1220, was so dis- 
pleased to find the convent of his own friars in that city built in a 
stately manner, that he would not lodge in it, but went to the Domin- 
ican monastery, which was poor, and stayed there some days to 
enjoy the conversation of his friend, St. Dominic. 

The first habit worn by the Friars-Preachers was that of the Canons 
Regular, to whose order St. Dominic had belonged. It consisted of a 
black cassock, over which a rochet was worn. But, in 12 19, the saint 
himself, in his convent of Santa Sabina, exchanged it for the one worn 
at present, which, it is believed, w T as shown by the Blessed Virgin to 
Blessed Renald of Orleans. In 1221 the order was divided into 
eight provinces, namely, those of Spain, Toulouse, France, Lombardy, 
Rome, Provence, Germany, and England. During the lifetime of the 
founder it had already entered Ireland. Maelpatrick O'Scannail, 
Archbishop of Armagh, about the year 1261, was a member of the 
Dominican Order. 1 General chapters were held in the convent of 
Chantry in 1281 and 1304. 

After the death of St. Dominic, the religious of his order assembled 
a general chapter at Paris in 1222, and elected Blessed Jordan of Sax- 
ony as his successor, although he had been only two years and three 
months in the order. During the time of his administration the prov- 
inces of Greece, Poland, Denmark, and the Holy Land were erected. 
Blessed Jordan was drowned off the port of Acre in an attempt to 
reach Palestine. His successor was Saint Raymond of Pennafort. It 
was he who edited the constitutions under a better form, dividing 
them into two parts. Saint Raymond, having resigned his office, was 
succeeded by John of Waldesusen. The order continued to in- 
crease under this General as well as under his successors, Blessed 
Humbert, John of Verceil, and others. 
1 Archdall. 



274 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The office of inquisitors of the faith was given to the Order of St. 
Dominic in the thirteenth century ; it had hitherto belonged to the 
bishops. These inquisitors were at first appointed by the General of 
the order, but later on the nomination became reserved to the Pope 
or to the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which is one of the Roman 
congregations. 

In the thirteenth century, the century of the great universities, the 
Dominican order became a centre of mental activity. The thirteenth 
century was one of a great intellectual movement, or rather, it was the 
outcome of the working of minds which had gone on for centuries. 
The days of Platonic intuition and of the dogmatic teaching of the 
Fathers had passed, reason demanded proofs, and the method of the 
philosopher, the great Aristotle, seemed the one best suited to the 
exigencies of the day. Peter Abelard had given an impulse to the use 
of reason, and those who came after him seized upon what was good 
in his system, sifting it from that which was evil. The Dominicans 
entered heart and soul into the movement. In their schools at Co- 
logne and at Paris they shone as bright lights among their contempor- 
aries. In the former city Albertus Magnus astounded the world by 
the depth of his knowledge and his wonderful erudition. Those were 
the days when all branches of knowledge entered into the curriculum 
of studies. They were not the days of specialists like ours, if we ex- 
cept, perhaps, medicine and law, but rather of universal science. Al- 
bertus Magnus is, we think, the best illustration of this. His works, 
consisting of numerous in folios, comprise the extent of the knowledge 
of that period. Theology and metaphysics, natural philosophy in its 
various branches, form the subjects treated. The great doctor of Co- 
logne was even an expert in mechanics. But, in spite of his knowl- 
edge, Albertus Magnus has been eclipsed by one of his disciples, the 
great Thomas Aquinas. It was reserved to this illustrious son of St. 
Dominic to reduce to a system the working of the minds that had 
preceded him, a system that has been the admiration of ages, and 
which to the present day is the basis of Catholic theology. The Roman 
Breviary calls him " an excellent ornament of the Christian world, and 
the light of the Church." Thomas was born at Aquino in the early 
part of the thirteenth century. At the age of five he was committed 
to the care of the Benedictine monks of Monte Casino, and afterwards 
he continued his studies at Naples. While still a youth he entered 
the Dominican order, in spite of the opposition of his relatives, and 
he was sent to Paris by his superiors. He studied philosophy and 
theology under Albertus Magnus, and, at the age of twenty-five, him- 
self obtained the degree of Master, which is one of the highest digni- 



ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 



275 



ties of the order. His life, though comparatively short, was a busy 
one. Besides the assiduous preaching of the word of God, he found 
time to compose his numerous philosophical and theological works, 
which form a mine of profound learning. His Summa Theologica, a 
treatise on the range of Catholic theology, has never been equalled. 
St. Thomas Aquinas died in 1274, in the Cistercian monastery of 
Fossa Nova, on his way to the Council of Lyons, whither he had been 
sent by Gregory X. He was fifty years old at the time of his death. 

At the period of the great schism of the West, the Dominican order 
became divided into two portions. The provinces which recognized 
Urban VI. as the legitimate Pope elected as their General Blessed 
Raymond of Capua, and deposed Elias of Toulouse, who then held 
the office, and to whom the provinces of Spain, Aragon, France, Prov- 
ence, and Sicily, recognizing Pope Clement VII. at Avignon, re- 
mained subject. The provinces governed by Blessed Raymond were 
those of Italy, Germany, Hungary, England, Poland, Greece, Dalma- 
tia, Bohemia, Saxony, and the Holy Land. After the death of these 
Generals, each party continued to elect its own until the year 1418, 
when the order was again united under one General by Pope Martin 
V. Among those who had recognized the Anti-pope of Avignon was 
the celebrated missionary, St. Vincent Ferrer. 

St. Dominic had originally forbidden his order to possess revenues 
and what we now call real estate, but during the generalship of Father 
Bartholomew Texier, Pope Martin V. dispensed in this point of the 
rule, One of the most illustrious popes, St. Pius V., was a member 
of the Dominican order, which has given to the Church so many per- 
sons distinguished by their learning, their zeal, and in the fine arts. 
The famous prior of St. Mark's at Florence, 1 Jerome Savonarola, 
was a Dominican, as was also Diego de Deza, Archbishop of Seville, 
the friend of Christopher Columbus. The art of painting claims as 
one of its most distinguished votaries the immortal Fra Angelico, the 
Dominican, and, in our century, the celebrated Pere Besson, Lacor- 
daire's friend, obtained renown in the same art. 

At the time of Helyot the Dominican order was divided into forty- 
five provinces, among which many were in the New World, such as 
those of the Holy Cross of the West Indies, St. James of Mexico, St. 
John the Baptist in Peru, St. Catherine of Quito in Ecuador, St. 
Laurent of Chili, Others were in various countries of the East, — Ar- 
menia, the Philippine Islands, and the Canaries. 

1 A portion of the monastery of St. Mark's is still occupied by the Dominicans. The 
most interesting part, that containing the celebrated frescoes of Fra Angelico, has 
been converted into a museum by the government, and it is open to the public. 



276 HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

In the sixteenth century the Dominicans watered the soil of Florida 
with their sweat, and even with their blood, and labored for Christ in 
the country now embraced by the dioceses of Savannah and of 
Mobile. 1 Twenty-three Dominican convents had been founded in 
Ireland during the thirteenth century, and at the time of the suppres- 
sion the order possessed forty-three houses in that country. Shortly after 
that period the convents of St. Sixtus and of St. Clement's in Rome 
were given by a general chapter to the Irish Dominicans for the pur- 
pose of forming missionaries for that country. These, together with 
two similar convents, one founded in Lisbon, and the other in Lorraine, 
became the means of preserving the Dominican order in Ireland dur- 
ing the days of persecution. In the beginning of this century Father 
Richard Luke Concanen, an Irishman, who also held the office of as- 
sistant of the General of the order, was prior of St. Clement's in Rome. 
Having been appointed bishop of New York, he was consecrated on 
April 24, 1808, by Cardinal Antonelli, prefect of the Propaganda, but 
He never reached his diocese, for he died at Naples, on June, 19th, 18 10. 
Several years before this appointment the Dominicans had made an 
establishment in the United States. Father Edward Fenwick had 
come over to this country in the beginning of this century. His first 
charge was in the diocese of Baltimore. Near the limits of a former 
parish of the writer in Charles Co., Maryland, about 18 miles from 
Washington, there is a district known as Mattawoman. There was 
once in this place a Catholic chapel, of which every vestige, with the 
exception of a few gravestones, has disappeared. It was here, as the 
continuator of Helyot tells us, that Father Fenwick administered to a 
little flock, as well as at Piscataway, and whence he left for Kentuck} 7 . 
Father Fenwick was a Marylander by birth, and he had entered the 
Dominican order at Bornhem in Flanders with the intention of after- 
wards introducing it into his own country. He obtained the per- 
mission of his superiors in Rome and in England, and the promise of 
assistance from Bishop Carrolf of Baltimore. By means of a circular 
addressed to the Catholics and the nobility of Great Britain, he had 
gathered an important sum of money for the undertaking. Arriving 
in the United States about the year 1805, ne was advised by Bishop 
Carroll to settle in Kentucky. Here he was received with open arms 
by Father Badin,*the only priest then in that district. Father Fen- 
wick was accompanied by Father Anthony Angier. He established 
himself in Washington county, near Springfield, on a property which 
contained a tolerably well-built house, and which he bought with the 
income of his own patrimony. His companions at this first foundation 

1 De Courcy. — Shea. 



ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 



277 



of the order in the United States were Fathers Thomas Wilson, An- 
thony Angier, Raymond Tuite, and another, with whose name we are 
not acquainted, — these, in 1806, founded the Convent of St. Rose in 
Kentucky, which is at present the novitiate of the order. 1 Four 
years later, in 18 10, the Dominicans entered Ohio, which Father Fen- 
wick evangelized in all directions, and a convent of the order was es- 
tablished near Somerset. In 1821, Father Fen wick became bishop of 
Cincinnati. After a laborious life he was stricken by the cholera, and 
he died on September 26th, 1832. The Dominican Fathers have con- 
tinued their work unostentatiously, but with fruit. Although the 
order in the United States never attained the celebrity it has in Europe, 
nor produced men who may rank as great, it has nevertheless added 
its share to the apostolical labors of the American Church by its work 
in parishes and on the missions. It possesses foundations, besides 
those mentioned, in Minnesota, Newark, New York, Washington, and 
in the diocese of Hartford, not to speak of the Fathers in California, 
who belong to a separate province. The French province of Lyons 
possesses houses in Canada, and in the dioceses of Portland, Me., and 
Providence, R. I. The order was resuscitated in France in 1845 by the 
celebrated preacher of Notre Dame, the Pere Lacordaire. At present it 
possesses in that country the provinces of Paris, Lyons, and Toulouse. 
Before the Revolution the Dominicans were known in Paris as Jaco- 
bins, from their convent of St. Jacques of that city. The residence of the 
General of the order is in the convent of La Minerva in Rome, which 
possesses a magnificent library, richly endowed in the last century by 
Cardinal Casanate, who gave to it his own collection of books, amount- 
ing to fifty thousand volumes without the manuscripts. 

The habit of the Dominicans consists of a white tunic and scapular 
with a black mantle. The lay-brothers wear a black scapular. Until 
the year 1453, the friars of Spain and Portugal wore grey mantles, 
which they exchanged for the black one by order of their General, 
Martial Auribelle. 

The constitutions of the Dominicans are admirable for their wisdom 
and the spirit of justice which animate them. The government of the 
order is elective, and what we may call democratic. No religious is 
punished for infractions against the rule without a fair trial held in 
the regular form of process. The different provinces of the order vary 
in their observances, nor is the strict rule of St. Dominic everywhere 
observed to the letter, but the tendency of the order and its general 
chapters has always been directed towards the maintaining of the prim- 
itive observance. Like other religious orders, that of St. Dominic 

1 Continuator of Helyot .— Ed. Migne. 



278 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



has experienced the effects of human weakness, but it was rather in- 
dividual convents than the whole order which fell into a state of relax- 
ation. From the year 1349, the time of the great pestilence, the reg- 
ular observance had been, as it were, banished from the convents of 
the order in Germany, but it was restored by the General, Blessed Con- 
rad of Prussia. The monasteries of Italy were reformed in 1402 by 
Blessed Bartholomew of St. Dominic of Sienna, afterwards bishop of 
Coronna. Father Bartholomew Texier, General of the order, worked 
hard for the regular observance, and established the Congregation of 
Aragon, which lasted 91 years. Several other reforms were at various 
times begun, such as that of the Congregation of Lombardy, founded 
about the year 141 8 by Father Mathew Boniparti of Navarra, and that 
of the Congregation of Tuscany, established by Jerome Savonarola in 
1493. This latter congregation was afterwards united with that of 
Lombardy, and, together with it, existed until 1 53 1, when it was sup- 
pressed and erected into a province by Clement VII. Several other 
congregations of the Dominican order, such as the Gallican congrega- 
tion and that of Holland, have existed, but there has, properly speak- 
ing, never been a split in the order, except that which existed at the 
time of the great schism of the West, of which mention has already 
been made. 

In these latter }^ears the Dominican order in the English-speaking 
world has been rendered illustrious by its gifted orator, the Irishman, 
Thomas Burke, well known to our Irish and American readers. 



SECOND ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 

MONASTERY OF PROUILLE. — ST. SIXTUS AT ROME.— SPREAD OF THE OR- 
DER. — DOMINICAN NUNS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

At the time when St. Dominic was occupied in working at the con- 
version of the Albigensians, he was very much grieved at seeing 
that certain gentlemen of Guyenne sold or gave their daughters to be 
educated by these heretics. The resolution of providing for the edu- 
cation of these poor girls immediately took root in his soul. Bernard, 
Archbishop of Narbonne, and Foulques, Bishop of Toulouse, entering 
into his views, and several pious persons having contributed to the ex- 
ecution of his plan, the saint laid the foundations of a monastery at 
Prouille between Carcasonne and Toulouse. The monastery having 
been built, eleven young ladies consecrated themselves to God in it on 
the feast of St. John the Evangelist, about the year 1206. St. Dominic 
himself gave them the habit, which consisted of a white robe, brown 




DOMINICAN NUNS 



SECOND ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 



279 



mantle, and black veil. The saint now drew up regulations for their 
guidance, and prescribed manual labor at certain hours of the day. He 
appointed Guillemette of Fanjaux as their Superior, and she governed 
the community until 1225. 

In 12 1 8, while at Rome, St. Dominic was commanded by Pope Hon- 
orius III. to collect together into one monastery several small com- 
munities of women dispersed throughout Rome, who led lives of little 
regularity. This order of the Pope being very displeasing to the 
religious themselves as well as to their relatives and the people, who 
protested loudly against it, St. Dominic met with no little opposition. 
By the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, he nevertheless finally 
succeeded, and the convent of St. Sixtus, which had been given to the 
friars, was ceded to the nuns, and on February 21, 1219, the Sisters of 
various communities were united together in it. The community be- 
came now a subject of great edification. Some time after, its members 
were invested with the Dominican habit, which was later on also 
adopted by the nuns at Prouiile. The first woman who received the 
habit, said to have been revealed to Blessed Renaldus, was Cecilia Ro- 
raana dei Cesarini, Superior of the new monastery of St. Sixtus. This 
community, on account of its unhealthy position, was transferred by 
order of Pius V. to Mount Magnanopoli on the Quirinal, and it be- 
came one of the wealthiest convents of the Eternal City. From these 
two foundations the Second Order of St. Dominic was widely prop- 
agated throughout Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia, 
Poland, and the Indies. Many of these monasteries remained subject 
to the superiors of the order, while others were subjected to the juris- 
diction of the diocesan authorities. The rule observed by them was, 
in the essential points, similar to that of the friars, though in several 
monasteries the regular observance became relaxed. In various con- 
vents of this order none but noble ladies were received, a thing not 
uncommon in the Middle Ages. In fact, in our own day a convent 
may easily acquire a certain tone of aristocracy when the dowry re- 
quired is above the average. The venerable monastery of Prouiile 
exists no longer. In France the monasteries of Dominican nuns were 
suppressed at the time of the Revolution, but they were again grad- 
ually re-established. At the present day the order exists in various 
parts of the world. In some of its monasteries various relaxations 
exist, while in others the primitive rule of St. Dominic is, with the ex- 
ception of the possession of revenues, observed to the letter. Two 
such monasteries in which the primitive rule is kept exist in our coun- 
try. The nuns who form these communities were introduced into 
this country by two American ladies, Mother Mary of Jesus, and her 



V 



280 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



relative, Mother Emmanuel, who both entered the order in France. 
They established their first house at Newark, New Jersey, under the 
protection of Rt. Rev. Michael A. Corrigan, then bishop of the dio- 
cese. Here they built a beautiful monastery in the gothic style. The 
Newark community established a second one at Hunt's Point, in the 
diocese of New York, where a magnificent gothic monastery has 
already arisen, to which Mr. John D. Crimmins of New York has 
largely contributed. In both these communities, which have rapidly 
increased, the devotion of the Perpetual Adoration has been intro- 
duced, the Blessed Sacrament remaining exposed day and night. The 
religious in these convents lead a very austere life, arising at midnight 
to recite the Divine Office, and observing the rigorous fasts and absti- 
nences of the rule. 

In other Dominican monasteries of the Second Order in the United 
States, such as those in the dioceses of New York and Newark, the 
nuns follow mitigated observances, and even devote themselves to the 
education of youth and the care of parish schools, which necessarily 
prevents them from the strict observance of the cloister. The nuns 
of this order, both reformed and mitigated, recite the Divine Office 
according to the Dominican breviary. 



THIRD ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 

All historians agree that St. Dominic established a military order 
under the name of " The Sodality of Jesus Christ" to combat 
against the enemies of the faith. The members of this society after- 
wards abandoned the use of arms and took the name of Penitents of 
St. Dominic. It is, however, not certain whether this change took 
place during the lifetime of the saint, or after his death. For the first 
two centuries of its existence, this Third Order made little progress, 
and it possessed no written rule until one was made for it by Murio 
de Zamorra, seventh General of the order, which was approved by 
Pope Innocent IV. in 1405, and confirmed by Eugene IV. in 1489. St. 
Catherine of Sienna was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, 
as was also St. Rose of Lima. 

There exists various communities of women who belong to the 
Third Order of St. Dominic, and bind themselves by vows. They do 
not practice the same austerities as those of the Second Order, though 
their habit is the same. Many communities of Dominican Tertiaries 
exist in the United States. 



DOMINICAN SAINTS. 



BLESSED PETER GONZALEZ. — ST. PETER MARTYR. — BLESSED ALBERTUS 
MAGNUS. — ST. THOMAS.— HENRY SUSO.— TAULER.— ST. CATHERINE 
OF SIENNA.— ST. VINCENT FERRER.— ST. ANTONINUS. — ST. LOUIS 
BERTRAND. — ST. PIUS V. 

r "pHE order of the great St. Dominic has been no less illustrious for 
X the fruits of sanctity it has produced than for its eminent learn- 
ing. The order, like that of St. Francis, St. Ignatius, and others, be- 
gan to form saints even during the lifetime of the holy founder. One 
of the earliest of these was Blessed Peter Gonzalez, born at Astorga in 
Spain, about the year 1190. Though an ecclesiastic, and what might 
be called a good ecclesiastic, at least in a moral sense, his heart was 
too full of the world. A sudden humiliation turned his thoughts 
heavenward, and he entered the Order of St. Dominic and consecrated 
the remainder of his life to pleaching the word of God, which he did 
with great fruit. He died in the year 1246, and he was beatified by 
Innocent IV. in 1254. 

Another illustrious son of the holy founder, from whose hands he 
received the habit, was St. Peter Martyr, born at Verona in 1205. He 
was an indefatigable preacher, and was several times Superior in various 
houses of his order. In 1232 he became Inquisitor-General of the faith. 
This drew upon him the hatred of the heretics, and he was put to death 
by them on April 6th, 1242. He was canonized the year after his death 
by Pope Innocent IV. 

To the number of saintly Dominicans must be reckoned Blessed Al- 
bertus Magnus, the prodigy of learning in his age, and the master of St. 
Thomas Aquinas. Albertus Magnus wrote on almost every conceivable 
subject, and the huge in folio volumes he has left us testify to the immen- 
sity of his learning and erudition. He taught at Cologne, and after- 
wards became bishop of Ratisbonne. 

Of St. Thomas, his disciple, who was destined to eclipse him in the- 
ology* we have already spoken. St. Thomas was not only a man of 
prodigious intellect, he was, above all, a saint, and a man of deep hu- 
mility and unruffled meekness. It would have been well if all who 
have fought under his banner had also constantly imitated the hu- 
mility of which he was an example. St. Thomas may truly be called 

281 



282 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the greatest ornament of the Dominican order, and it is.no little glory 
for the institute of St. Dominic to have given such a saint to the Church. 

In the fourteenth century, which followed that of the great St. 
Thomas, the Dominican order gave to the Church the eminent con- 
templative and mystic writer, Blessed Henry Suso. He died probably 
in the year 1365. Another Dominican of eminent virtue in the 
same century was the famous preacher, John Tauler. St. Catherine 
of Sienna edified the Church in the same epoch by her wonderful vir- 
tues and extraordinary gifts of sanctity. She belonged to the Third 
Order of St. Dominic, like the illustrious American saint of two cen- 
turies later, St. Rose of Lima. 

St. Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican missionary, powerful in word and 
work, belonged to the fifteenth century. Although it is claimed that 
the work of missions is of sixteenth century growth, and that it goes 
back to the time of St. Vincent de Paul, and this may be true as far 
as systematic and organized missions are in question, it must not be 
forgotten that St. Vincent Ferrer did in the fifteenth century what 
the missionaries of so many orders and congregations are doing to-day. 
This saint was born at Valencia in Spain, on January 23d, 1357. He 
received the Dominican habit in 1374. His life was an uninterrupted 
labor for the salvation of souls. During the great schism of the West, 
he was subject to the Pope at Avignon, though he earnestly deplored 
the existing state of affairs, and endeavored unsuccessfully to put. an 
end to the schism. He was made master of the Sacred Palace by 
Peter de Luna, who had become Pope under the title of Benedict 
XIII. He consummated his course on April 5th, 1419. 

While St. Vincent Ferrer was devoting his life and labors to the 
salvation of souls in Spain and France, Italy was being edified by the 
virtues of another Dominican, St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence. 
This saint was born in that city in 1389. At the age of sixteen he en- 
tered the Dominican order. He acquired great renown as a canonist 
and moral theologian, and he filled the office of prior in several con- 
vents of his order. He finally became prior of the convent of St. 
Mark in Florence. It was here that afterward the celebrated Do- 
minican artist, Blessed John of Fiesole, surnamed Angelico, labored. 
Many of his frescoes are still to be seen in that part of the monastery 
which is now a museum. The celebrated Jerome Savanorola was also 
prior of St. Mark's. This venerable monastery still exists entire, but, 
like so many other hallowed edifices in Italy, it is in the hands of the 
government, though a few Dominican friars still dwell within it and 
serve its church. We had the pleasure of being conducted through its 
cloisters by a young member of the order. St. Antoninus was made 



D 0 MI NIC A N SA I NTS. 



283 



Archbishop of Florence by Pope Eugene IV. He died on May 2d, 1459. 

More than half a century after the death of St. Antoninus, there 
was born in Spain a child that was to add to the lustre of the 
Dominican order. St. Louis Bertrand came into this world on Janu- 
ary 1st, 1526, at Valencia in Spain. At an early age he entered among 
the Dominicans in his native city. His first zeal was devoted to his 
own country, but in 1562 he embarked for America, where he la- 
bored for some years in Central and South America, and whence he 
returned to Spain in 1569. He died on October 9th, 1 581. During 
his time there flourished in Spain and Portugal two other Domini- 
cans of eminent virtue, the well-known writer, F. Lewis of Granada, 
and Bartholomew of the Martyrs, Bishop of Braga. 

Not the least illustrious among the sons of St. Dominic was the 
great Pontiff, St. Pius V. Michael Ghisleri was born in Italy on Jan- 
uary 27, 1 504, and he took the Dominican habit at the age of fifteen. He 
filled various important positions in the order until 1556, when he was 
made bishop by Paul IV. In 1557 the same Pope created him Car- 
dinal. He succeeded Pius IV. in 1566, under the title of Pius V. It 
was during his reign that the famous victory of Lepanto was gained 
over the Turks. After accomplishing much for the glory of God, he 
died on May 1st, 1572. 

We leave unmentioned other saints of this order, and content our- 
selves w T ith the few of which we have spoken, as being among the 
the most illustrious ornaments of the white-robed order of the great 
St. Dominic. 



THE CARMELITES. 



THE orders of which we have thus far treated all recognize definite 
founders, who, chosen by Divine Providence as instruments 
for the furtherance of God's glory and the good of their fellow-men, 
planted the seed which, being developed, grew up to be trees 
that adorn the garden of the Church. They had either started 
out under the influence of a divine inspiration and with a definite 
plan to establish a religious society, or providential circumstances 
had rendered them founders. All these orders had a beginning, of 
which an accurate account has been handed down to us by history. 
But it is not thus with the Order of Carmel. Its origin seems shrouded 
in mystery, and it has given rise to numberless discussions. It appears 
that its authentic history begins only at the period of the crusades, 
in the twelfth century, when Aimeric of Malifay, a native of France,. 
Latin patriarch of Antioch, and legate of the Holy See, during the 
pontificate of Alexander III., united all the convents of the Holy 
Land, founded by the hermits of Mount Carmel, into one congregation; 
The question which arises is : Whence did these hermits originate ? 
Did they belong to the same class as the solitaries, scattered over Egypt 
and Palestine, or had they a special institution of their own? The 
learned Bollandists place the commencement of the Order of Carmel in 
the year 1155, when St. Berthold, with tenor twelve brethren, estab- 
lished himself on the mountain of that name, though one of these au- 
thors, in his introduction to the life of St. Albert, admits that these 
few disciples of St. Berthold may have continued a more ancient in- 
stitution, of which the Prophet Elias was the founder. If we consult 
the Carmelites themselves, they assure us that their order does indeed 
ascend to the days of the Prophet of Carmel, whom they recognize as 
its founder. This opinion rests upon a solid basis of authority. St. 
Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, Cassian, the Abbot Rupert, St. Odilo,. 
abbot of Cluni, and St. Peter Damian speak of Elias as the founder of 
the monastic state, and Father Gregory of St. Martin asserts that no 
fewer than 393 authors and learned men of various orders have 
adopted the same opinion. 

We have seen in the first chapter of this history that there existed 
among the Jews a sect mentioned by Josephus, which bore the name 

284 



CARMELITE FRIARS 



THE CARMELITES. 



285 



of Essenes. It is by no means improbable that these were the suc- 
cessors of the Children of the Prophets mentioned in the Bible. In fact, 
it is written in Ecclesiasticus that Elias was succeeded by prophets,. 
A constant tradition has accepted it as a fact that a succession of sol- 
itaries, disciples of Elias and Eliseus, had always existed on or near 
Mount Carmel. Baronius asserts that the institution of the Essenes 
flourished under St. Mark at Alexandria, for many of them had been 
converted to Christianity. It is also related that there existed in the 
third century a monastery, the inhabitants of which claimed Elias as 
their father. John, Patriarch of Jerusalem in the fourth century, tells 
us that Carmel had been inhabited by monks from the days of Elias 
down to his own time. It appears even that religious of Mount Car- 
mel were to be found in the West as early as the eighth century, for 
Thomas, Bishop of Florence, relates that his city was in possession of 
a church served by them. At any rate it can be said that the opinion 
of the Carmelites has a weight of probability, and even the authority 
of the Holy See on its side, for Father Francis Suarez, of the Society 
of Jesus, cites seven Popes who have admitted the hereditary succes- 
sion of the Carmelites from Elias and Eliseus. 

It was, however, only in the twelfth century that the order obtained 
a definite organization, for as we have said, Aimeric of Malifay first 
united its religious into one body. At their own request he gave 
them as their first Superior, a relative of his, Berthold de Malifay, a 
priest born in France, who had joined their institution, having fol- 
lowed the army of the Crusaders to Palestine. St. Berthold contin- 
ued to hold the reins of government for a period of forty-five years, 
until his death. He began the construction of a monaster}^ on Mount 
Carmel, but death prevented him from finishing it. Saint Brocard,. 
his successor, gave the religious their first rule, which, however, was 
found to be insufficient, and they addressed themselves to St. Albert, 
patriarch of Jerusalem and legate of the Holy See, who gave them a 
rule in 1207, which forms the original rule of Carmel. It decreed 
that the religious should take a vow of obedience to their Superior, 
who was to bear the title of abbot, and be elected by . the brethren. 
Thus far it seems they had not been bound by any vow. The mon- 
astery was to consist of cells entirely separate from each other, accord- 
ing to the original custom of Carmel. Those among the religious 
who were able to read were bound to the recitation of the Office, while 
the others were obliged to recite a certain number of times the 
Lord's Prayer. All goods were to be held in common, and private 
property was entirely excluded. An oratory was built among the 
cells, in order that the brethren might assist daily at the Holy Sacri- 



286 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



fice of the Mass. The religious were also required to meet in chapter 
for the correction of faults committed. As regards fasting and ab- 
stinence, they were commanded to fast from the Feast of the Exalta- 
tion of the Holy Cross in September until Easter, and were further 
obliged to perpetual abstinence from flesh meat, although an exception 
was made for those whom ill-health rendered incapable of practising 
this austerity. The religious were commanded to work in silence, 
and from Vespers until Terce the next day, no one was allowed to 
speak, except in case of necessity, or with the permission of the Su- 
perior. 

Some time after this, the Carmelites were in danger of being sup- 
pressed, petitions to this effect having been addressed to Honorius III., 
under the pretext that their order had not been confirmed by the Holy 
See. The Council of Lateran, held by Innocent III., had decreed that 
no new orders should be established, but the Carmelites proved that 
their rule had been given to them by the legate of the Pope before 
the enactment of this decree. The Sovereign Pontiff seemed dis- 
posed to the suppression, of the order, but it is said that the Blessed 
Virgin appeared to him and warned .him against such a step, as she 
had taken the order under her special protection. , The consequence 
was that the order was approved by a Bull of January 30th, 1226. 

Saint Brocard died on September 2d, 1230 or 123 1, at the age of 
80, and he was succeeded by St. Cyril of Constantinople, an eminent 
philosopher and theologian. During his administration, as well as 
that of his predecessor, the order established several monasteries 
throughout Palestine. During the government of his successor, 
Berthold II., the Carmelites passed over to Europe, and established 
themselves at Valenciennes in France. Monasteries followed in Cy- 
prus, Sicily, and Provence. In 1212 they founded monasteries in Eng- 
land, where John Lord Vesey established that of Holne near Alnwick, in 
Northumberland, and Richard Lord Grey of Codnor, that of Aylesford 
near Rochester. " The Carmelites, " says Gasquet, 1 " were simple, home- 
ly, and spread through the country as if an order of native origin." 
In the sixteenth century, at the period of the Suppression, they num- 
bered thirty-six convents. Their churches and convents were exceed- 
ingly poor, but the order in England was prolific in writers. 

The history of the Carmelites henceforward belongs almost entirely 
to that of the Church in the West. In the East it was on the verge 
of annihilation on account of the inroads made by the Mahometans. 
In fact, the seat of government was transferred to the West at the 
election of St. Simon Stock as General of the order, in 1243. This 

1 Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. 



THE CARMELITES. 



287 



saint was an Englishman. A few years later, the order was exter- 
minated in Palestine, the religious of Mount Carmel having been mas- 
sacred while chanting the Salve Regina. Two years after the election 
of St. Simon Stock, the Carmelite order was placed among the 
mendicant orders, after those of St. Francis and St. Dominic. 

About this time the rule underwent a few modifications which the 
altered circumstances of the times rendered necessary. Two Domin- 
icans, Hugo, Cardinal Priest of Santa Sabina, and William, Bishop of 
Anthera, were deputed by the Holy See to regulate the affair. It 
was decreed that the Carmelites should, in their rule, make explicit 
mention of the vows of chastity and poverty, which hitherto had been 
merely implied in their vow of obedience. The life of entire seclusion 
was explained to the effect that the religious were allowed to take 
their meals in a common refectory, and were also permitted to estab- 
lish their monasteries in other places besides deserts. We see thus that 
the Order of Carmel, from eremitical, had become entirely cenobitical. 
It had also begun to work in the general ministry of the Church and 
the direction of souls. The original rule thus modified was con- 
firmed by a Bull of Innocent IV. in 1248. There were also constitu- 
tions, of which, however, no trace remains, as the earliest now exist- 
ing constitutions date only from the second half of the fourteenth cen- 
tury. 

During the administration of St. Simon Stock, the order contin- 
ued to spread in various parts of Europe. It entered into Scotland in 
1257 or 1258, and established a monastery at Perth. The Carmelites, 
known in the British Isles as White Friars, on account of the color of 
their mantle, were introduced into Ireland before the year 1272. In 
the thirteenth century they established a monastery at Leighlin Bridge 
in the County of Carlow. During that period, and, in fact, from the 
Norman Invasion to the days of Henry VIII., Carlow was in a military 
point of view, perhaps the most important county in Ireland, as 
through it ran the main road that connected the English settlements in 
Munster with the seat of the government in Dublin, and the bridge at 
Leighlin was the only passage across the River Barrow, by which 
the capital could communicate with the counties of Kilkenny, Water- 
lord, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Wexford. 

About the time of the establishment of the Carmelites in Carlow County, 
Kavanagh, who assumed the name of McMurrough, took possession 
of the greater part of the county. Being allied with the various 
branches of that family and with the O'Byrnes and the OTooles, he 
entrenched himself on the hills around Leighlin and commanded the pas- 
sage across the Barrow. From the days of Edward III. to Henry VIII. 



288 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the McMurroughs received a yearly stipend from the English for the 
permission granted them to pass on to Leighlin Bridge. 

The Carmelite monastery was founded about the end of the reign of 
Henry III., by a member of the Carew family at Leighlin Bridge, a 
town situated on the banks of the Barrow in the rich valley of Idrone. 
The Carews had possessions there as late as the reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth, and the agent Hooker, writing to Sir Peter Carew, says that 
" in all Europe, there is not a more pleasant, sweet, or fruitful land." 

The Black Castle, on the east bank of the river, a little below 
which the monastery was founded, was built about 1 1 8 1 by Hugh de 
Lacy, and was one of the earliest Norman strongholds in Ireland. 
The monastery was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1 371 
Edward III. granted it a yearly sum of ten marks for the repairing of 
the house. 

That the Carmelite Friars experienced tosome extent the effects of these 
troublous times, is evident from the fact that, in 1378, King Richard II. 
granted them a yearly pension of twenty marks out of the rents of the 
town of Newcastle of Lyons, in consideration of the great labor, bur. 
den, and expense which the priors of the monastery had to sustain in 
protecting their house and the adjacent bridge against the king's ene- 
mies. This religious house underwent the fate of other monasteries, 
and it was suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII. • 

In 1290 William de Vesey founded a monastery for the Carmelites 
in the town of Kildare, which existed until the suppression of the mon- 
asteries by Henry VIII. 

David O'Berge, provincial of the Carmelite order in the fourteenth 
century, a man of great learning, and the author of several works, was a 
native of Kildare. He held several chapters of the order at Atherbro, and 
in Dublin. David O'Berge was well versed in theology, philosophy, 
rhetoric, and canon and civil law, and was called the burning light, 
the mirror, and the ornament of his country. He died in the monastery 
of Kildare. 

The Carmelites also possessed houses at Cloncurry, in the county of 
Kildare, at Castle Lyons, in the city of Cork, and at Kinsale. 

In 1259 Pope Alexander IV. ordained that no order which was not 
more austere than that of Carmel should be allowed to receive Car- 
melites who desired to pass over to it from their own. For some 
reason or other the Friars-Minor in Provence seemed to ignore this com- 
mand of the Pope, as they still continued to receive Carmelites. Here- 
upon St. Simon Stock invoked the authority of Urban IV., with the 
result of a letter being written on the subject by the Sovereign Pontiff 
to St. Bonaventure, who was then General of the Orderof St. Francis* 



THE CARMELITES. 



289 



St. Simon Stock was one of the eminent Generals of the Order of Car- 
mel, which he governed during twenty years. He died at Bordeaux on 
May 16th, 1265. His name has become famous on account of an ap- 
parition of the Queen of Heaven, with which he was favored, in which 
the Blessed Virgin promised that all those who would die clothed with 
the habit of Carmel would be preserved from hell. 

A few years after the death of St. Simon Stock the habit of the 
Carmelites underwent a slight modification. The mantle, which hither- 
to had been of various colors, succeeding each other in stripes, was 
exchanged for a white one by the authority of Pope Honorius IV., in 
1287. Thisdecreeof Honorius was confirmed by Boniface VIII., in 1295. 

One of the glories of the Order of Carmel consists in its constant 
zeal for the defence of the belief in the Immaculate Conception of 
Mary. In the fourteenth century the feast of the Conception of the 
Blessed Virgin, as well as that of the Blessed Sacrament, began to be 
solemnly celebrated in the order. 

Towards the close of the fourteenth century a cloud passed over 
the Order of Carmel. It was the same black cloud which hovered 
over the entire Church for so long a period, and which has left so sad 
a recollection in its memory. It was the great schism of the West. 
Two Popes, Urban VI. and Clement VII., reigned at the same time, 
-one at Rome, the other at Avignon. The schism lasted even after 
their death, as others were elected to succeed them. The Order of 
Carmel was divided at the same time, there being two Generals. The 
monastic orders suffered together with the rest of the Church, regu- 
larity was banished from religious houses, and numerous disorders be- 
came rampant. Carmel formed no exception. At the General Chap- 
ter, held at Chambery in 1430, it was deemed necessary, in order to 
prevent its utter decline, to mitigate the rule of St. Albert. The Bull 
of mitigation, Romani Pontiftces, was dated February 15th, 1431. In it 
the Pope, Eugene IV., allowed the Carmelites to eat meat except on 
fast days ; the long fast was altered so that they were obliged to fast 
only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from the feast of the Ex- 
altation of the Holy Cross until Easter, and the religious were no 
longer required to remain constantly in their cells, but were allowed 
to walk in the gardens and in the cloisters. This mitigation had a 
beneficial effect, for the friars willingly submitted to the other points of 
the rule. 1 However, Blessed John Soreth, General of the Carmelites, 
who died in 147 1, and, after him, all the general chapters held un- 
til the time of St. Teresa, endeavored to bring back the order to 
the primitive observance. Several monasteries adopted a reform. 

1 Notice sur L'Ordre des Carmes. — Brocard de Ste. Therese. 



290 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



This tendency towards reformation culminated finally in the successful 
work of St. Teresa, which took place in the sixteenth century, and pro- 
duced a new branch of the order, that of the Discalced Carmelites, 
which nevertheless remained subject to the jurisdiction of the entire 
body until 1593, when it obtained a General of its own. 

In 1604 another reform was effected in the main body of the order 
at Tours, in France, by the efforts of the General, Henri Sylvius. It 
spread to all the convents of the order in that kingdom, and, it 
appears, also to Belgium, Germany, and Poland. 1 

The Carmelites came to America in 1864 from Bavaria. They were 
received by Bishop Miege of Leavenworth, Kansas. They took 
charge of the church of St. Joseph, and opened a monastery on 
Oct. 5th of the same year. In course of time several other places were 
accepted, of which they retain to-day : Leavenworth and Scipio, in Kan- 
sas; Pittsburg and New Baltimore, in Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls, in 
Canada; and Englewood, in New Jersey. 

Their work, outside of what is proper to the order, has been parish 
work in their respective .places, and for the last ten years they have 
also given numbers of missions and retreats. 

For the first ten or twelve years of their existence in this country 
their increase was very slow. A commissariate was established, and, 
after 1876, the prospect improved until, in 1890, a Province was 
erected with twenty-seven priests, nineteen students, and seventeen 
lay-brothers. 

The monastic life is strictly followed only at New Baltimore, the 
novitiate, house of studies, and residence of the provincial, whilst the 
other houses are to a great extent mission houses. 

Carmelites from Ireland, called of the Ancient Observance, have a 
house in New York city. They belong to the same branch of the 
order as the other Carmelite Fathers in this country, being subject to 
the same General, but they do not follow the reform of Blessed John 
Soreth, like the others. 

CONGREGATION OF MANTUA. 

The Carmelite Monastery of Mantua embraced a reform in the 
fifteenth century. Father Baptist Spagnoli, who had received the 
habit in that monastery, and who was elected General of the order in 
1 5 13, reformed those of Milan and Pistoia, and the reform spread to 
fifty other monasteries in Italy, which were united into one body under 
the title of Congregation of Mantua. Pope Eugene IV. approved it, 
and, by a Bull of September 3, 1442, exempted it from the jurisdiction- 

1 Notice sur L' Ordre des Carmes. — P. Brocard de Ste. Therese. 



THE CARMELITES. 



291' 



of all the Superiors of the order, with the exception of the Prior-Gen- 
eral. 

However, there is something mysterious about the foundation of 
this congregation, and authors do not agree as to whom it really owes 
its origin. Pensa, in his lives of the illustrious personages of this 
congregation, maintains that its founder was John Lapez, a Florentine, 
while according to Clement Fellini, in his History of the Congrega- 
tion, it was founded by Albert of Tuscany in 141 3. Helyot, on the 
contrary, believes that its author was Father Thomas Conecte, a 
Frenchman. The history of this man is a tragic one, and it reminds us 
of the fate of Jerome Savonarola, the Dominican. Father Conecte 
first appeared in Flanders and in Artois about the year 1428. His 
sermons produced a marvellous effect, and they were sometimes 
attended by as many as twenty thousand persons. He travelled to 
Lyons, mounted on an ass, and followed by several religious and the 
populace, which seemed attracted more by the austerity of his life 
than by his doctrine, which according to some authors was not or- 
thodox. Numerous and extraordinary conversions were nevertheless 
operated by his means. He left Lyons in 1432 to go to Rome, with 
the intention, as he said, of reforming the Pope and the Cardinals. 
Having arrived in that city, he began to preach with great vehemence 
against the morals of the court, and, to use the words of Helyot, ad- 
vanced certain errors, or at least, truths too free in their nature. The 
consequence was that Pope Eugene IV. had him imprisoned, and gave 
orders to the Cardinal of Rouen, who was then protector of the Car- 
melite order, to bring him to trial. The unfortunate man was con- 
demned to be burnt, and was publicly executed in Rome in 1433. 
Historians of the Carmelite order have undertaken to justify Father 
Conecte, and among these are prominent Lezana and Blessed Baptist 
Spagnoli of Mantua, a man renowned for the sanctity of his life. The 
latter says that the real cause of the death of Conecte was his freedom 
in declaiming against the vices of his day. St. Antonine, on the con- 
trary, asserts that he was burnt for heresy. At all events this seems 
to have been one of those unfortunate affairs which must be left to the 
final decision of the day of judgment 

Before going to Rome, Father Conecte had introduced a reform 
into a convent of his order at Gironne in the Alps, in that of Forets in 
Tuscany, and the monastery of Mantua embracing this reform, the 
congregation which bears its name thus began. Pope Eugene IV. ex- 
empted it from the jurisdiction of the provincials, and submitted it 
directly to the General of the order, with permission to elect a Vicar- 
General. Father Baptist Spagnoli was one of the brightest ornaments 



292 HISTOR Y OF RELIG10 US ORDERS. 

of this congregation, and six times its Vicar-General. It is for this 
reason, perhaps, that some consider him its founder. He also became 
General of the order. The Fathers of the Congregation of Mantua 
wore the brown habit of Carmel, while the mitigated Carmelites gen- 
erally had adopted a habit of a color approaching to black. Father 
Spagnoli died in 1 516, and his body was preserved in an incorrupt 
state in the convent of Mantua. He was a good theologian, a learned 
philosopher, and he passed for the best poet of his time. He was beati- 
fied by Leo XIII. The rule of this congregation was less severe than 
that of the original rule of St. Albert, for the religious did not observe 
perpetual abstinence, and their fast was mitigated. There were also 
nuns of this congregation. 



THE D1SCALCED CARMELITES. 



T N the early part of the sixteenth century there was in the city of 
X Avila in Spain, a monastery of Carmelite nuns, which exists to the 
present day. Although these religious did not observe the primitive 
rule of Carmel, they were nevertheless renowned for their mortifica- 
tion, their obedience, and their charity. One day, in the year 1533, a 
young maiden in the bloom of youth, over whose head scarcely nineteen 
summers had flown, applied at this monastery for admission. She was to 
be, in the designs of Providence, the most illustrious postulant that 
had ever knocked at the gates of a Carmelite convent. Her name was 
Teresa de Ahumada. Born in the city of Avila, on the 28th of March, 
1 5 1 5, she determined to consecrate herself to God in the Order of Mary. 
The first twenty years of her religious life formed a period of interior 
struggles, which finally ended in the complete victory of grace over 
nature. Feeling herself called by God to the reform of her order, 
she undertook the work in spite of the opposition that was raised against 
her, and succeeded in overcoming all obstacles. She founded her first 
monastery at Avila in the year 1562, during the generalate of Father 
John Baptist Rubeo, and this was succeeded by many others. Not 
content with having brought back the nuns to the primitive observance 
of Carmel, she determined to effect a similar reform among the men. 
The primitive observance was interrupted but a short time, for only a 
few years before St. Teresa commenced her work, the last monastery 
in which it had been kept, built on the island of Cyprus, had been de- 
stroyed by the Turks. 

Divine Providence brought the saint into relation with two Carmel- 
ite friars, who Avere to be the first stones in the new edifice. These 
were Antonio de Heredia, prior of the convent of Medina, and Juan 
de Yepez, a religious of the same monastery, now known in the Church 
as St. John of the Cross. 

The first monastery of Discalced Carmelite Friars was founded by 
St. Teresa, with the permission of the Provincial and of the diocesan 
authorities, in the village of Duruelo, with Fathers Antonio and Juan 
and Brother Joseph as its members. Twelve years afterwards the or- 
der had increased to such an extent that the monasteries of the re- 
form were united into a separate province, with the approbation of 

293 



294 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Gregory XIII., by a brief of June 22, 1580. The first Provincial, elect- 
ed the following year in a chapter held at Alcala, was Father Jerome 
Gracian of the Mother of God. The order at this time possessed elev- 
en priories. 

St. Teresa, having beheld her work blessed by God, departed this 
life on October 4th, or, according to the Reformed Calendar, October 
1 5th, 1 582. The year after her death a provincial chapter was convoked 
at Almadovar, in order to remedy certain abuses which had already 
begun to enter a few monasteries of the reform, and for various other 
important matters. The chapter censured the conduct of the Provin- 
cial, who seemed inclined to favor exterior works to the prejudice of 
the spirit of retreat, which, as St. John of the Cross pointed out, ought 
to be that of Carmel, as its first religious had been solitaries. 

In 1587 the Discalced Carmelites, were erected into a separate con- 
gregation under a Vicar-General, and, in 1588, divided into six prov- 
inces. Father Nicolas of Jesus Mary was elected first Vicar-General. 
Fathers John of the Cross, Augustine of the Kings, Anthony of Jesus, 
and Elias of St. Martin became definitors or consultors of the Vicar- 
General. The last election caused great dissatisfaction, for the friars 
feared that the characteristic spirit of Carmel, which was one of gentle 
meekness, would be superseded by a rigorous government. Their dis- 
content, however, soon subsided, but the nuns were not so easily satis- 
fied, and in the general chapter, held at Madrid in 1590, it was decreed 
that these latter should entirely submit to this new tribunal, and all 
the powers granted hitherto to the provincials to govern them by com- 
mission were revoked. St. John of the Cross was the only one who 
opposed this measure, and inclined to gentleness rather than to sever- 
ity. This brought him into disrepute with his brethren. The Sisters 
had obtained a brief from Sixtus V. permitting them to withdraw from 
the jurisdiction of the consultors, but the chapter decided that if they, 
by all means, would make use of the brief, the order would entirely 
relinquish their direction, and leave them and their monasteries in the 
hands of the Pope. This was a period of considerable trouble in the 
order, some being against and others in favor of St. John of the Cross. 
The outcome was that, in 1 5 9 1 , the saint, for the sake of peace, resigned 
his office of Provincial of the Indies, to which he had been elected. 

In April, 1591, harmony was a^ain re-established between the nuns 
and the friars, who once more assumed their direction. St. John of the 
Cross, whose life had fully justified his name, and who had requested 
from his Saviour the grace of suffering and of being despised for His 
sake, died in the convent of Ubeda, on December 14th, 1 591. He was 
canonized by Benedict XIII. in 1728. 



THE DISC ALOE D CARMELITES. 



295 



The saint was not the only one whom God permitted to be perse- 
cuted by his own brethren. Father Jerome Gracian, who had been 
the first provincial of the reform, fell into disgrace to such an extent 
that he was dismissed from the order in 1592. A few years later he 
was received among the mitigated Carmelites, and he died in the 
odor of sanctity in their monastery of Brussels, September 21st, 1614. 
Saint Teresa had had the highest opinion of his virtue. 

In 1593, at the election of Father Chizzola as General of the order, 
the Discalced Carmelites, by common agreement, withdrew from the 
•others and formed a separate body under a Superior, to whom the title 
of Preposito-General was given. Three } T ears before they had found- 
ed a monastery in Italy at Genoa, and afterwards established one at 
Rome. Clement VIII. , in 1597, separated these two convents from the 
jurisdiction of the Spanish monasteries, and subjected them directly to 
the Holy See. They formed the nucleus of the Congregation of 
Italy, which accepted the constitutions of the religious of Spain with 
certain modifications. Thus the friars in Italy took a fourth vow nev- 
er to seek for any office, either in or out of the order. The Congre- 
gation of Italy was established by a Bull of Clement VIII. in 1597. 

Even before the death of St. Teresa, the Discalced Carmelites had 
begun the work of foreign missions in Congo and Guinea. Clement 
V III. sent them to Persia, and their labors gradually extended to other 
fields. They entered into France in 1608, Belgium in 1610, and at 
various periods into Holland, Scotland, England, and Ireland. 

In 1634 the Discalced Carmelites took possession of their holy 
mountain in Palestine. After a series of persecutions they were again 
driven from it, in 1799, by the Turks, but established themselves once 
more, in 1827, on the mountain of Carmel, where they still abide. 

Among the works that have rendered the Order of Carmel illustrious, 
we must not omir to mention the famous commentary on St. Thomas, 
called the Salmanticenses. it was composed by the Discalced Carmel- 
ites in their theological college of Salamanca, and seventy years were 
spent upon it. 

For the satisfaction of those readers w 7 ho would form a wider ac- 
quaintance with the mode of life followed by the Discalced Carmelites 
we here add a brief outline of it. Their obedience is most exact, and 
regulates to the least details of their life, so that they even request 
permission to drink a glass of water, although it is not customary 
among them to take the least refreshment outside of the regular 
hours for meals. Everything they possess is absolutely in common. 
They accept no titles of distinction, and bind themselves by vow to 
seek no office. Their General occupies his position for the term of six, 



296 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the other Superiors for that of three years. The religious are never 
allowed to quit their cells without necessity. From Compline until 
after Prime their silence is absolute, and at other times they are not 
allowed to converse without the Superior's permission. Perpetual ab- 
stinence from meat, the long fast from September to Easter, the mid- 
night Office, frequent and lengthy meditations are the austerities and 
devotions of the barefooted sons of St. Teresa. One monastery in 
each province, called the desert, is to be set aside exclusively for the 
exercises of the contemplative life. 

A remarkable feature of Carmelite life is the wide scope it allows 
for the exercise of each individual's talents and peculiar bent. The 
order forces no one to devote himself, against his inclinations, to a 
particular occupation, but distributes its employments, which are nu- 
merous, according to the natural aptitudes and inclinations of each in- 
dividual. 

The Discalced Carmelite friars have never permanently settled in 
the United States, though some years ago, a foundation which did not 
last, was attempted at Paterson, New Jersey. Nevertheless Discalced 
Carmelite Friars had been in the New World as early as 1601, for in 
that year two members of the order accompanied Don Sebastian 
Viscayno, who had been sent to explore the coast line of the Califor- 
nias. On November 10th, 1602, the first Mass in California was cele- 
brated at San Diego by the Carmelite Father, Andrew of the Assump- 
tion. After remaining ten days at this place, the expedition sailed to- 
ward the North, and on December 16th of the same year landed at 
Monterey, where the Holy Sacrifice was offered up under a wide, 
spreading oak. The Fathers gave the name of Carmelo to this site, as 
they thought it resembled Mount Carmel in Palestine. 

About the year 1720 the district of Louisiana was divided into three 
parts and placed under the care of the Capuchins, the Jesuits, and the 
Discalced Carmelites. Three Carmelite Fathers and a lay-brother 
were sent from the Province of Normandy to take charge of their 
new mission. They did not, however, long remain in this field of 
labor, for they were forced to abandon it for want of resources. 1 

1 Currier : Carmel. in America, Chap. V, 




BAREFOOTED CARMELITE NUNS 



CARMELITE NUNS. 



IT is uncertain to what precise epoch the female religious of this 
order owe their origin, but it is probable that they ascend to a very 
high antiquity, although the earliest record we have concerning 
them goes no further back than the thirteenth century. The histor- 
ian de Lezana, citing the Gallia Christiana, tells us that a convent of 
Nuns of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was founded at Louvain by St. 
Simon Stock, who, as we know, died in 1265. In a constitution of 
Pope Alexander IV. of the year 1261, it is decreed that the Superiors 
of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel cannot be forced to take 
upon themselves the government of the nuns of their order, nor of any 
other order, without a special command of the Holy See. In his Bull 
Ex Parte of July 18, 13 10, addressed to the archbishops and bishops of 
Germany, exhorting them to receive the exiled Carmelites who 
had been driven from their monasteries in the Holy Land, Clement V. 
speaks thus: "It has been more than once exposed to us, on the 
part of our beloved son, Gerard of Bologna, Master-General of the 
Brethren, Sisters and professed of both sexes belonging to the Order 
of Our lady of Mount Carmel, that, the evils of the times increasing 
beyond measure, they have been obliged to quit the place of refuge 
they possessed on Mount Carmel, and to fly before the heathen 
who persecuted them." John the XXII., in a Bull of 1318, grants an in- 
dulgence to all those who visit the church of the nuns of Our Lady of 
Mount Carmel at Messina in Sicily. It must then be held as certain 
that female religious of the Order of Mount Carmel existed long be- 
fore the time of Blessed John Soreth, who has generally been consid- 
ered their founder. However, we lose all trace of them in history 
from the beginning of the fourteenth century until the time of the 
English Carmelite, Thomas Walden, who died in 1430 and, according to 
a writer of the order, established several convents of Carmelite nuns 
in England. 

But why has Blessed John Soreth been considered their founder? 
From the following fact : In the year 1400, three communities of Be- 
guins in Gelderland united into one, without binding themselves by 
any particular rule, until 1452, when they besought John Soreth to 
receive them into his order. He acceded to their request, and more- 

297 



298 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



over founded himself five convents of Carmelite nuns. From this 
time their history continues uninterrupted. 

In the fifteenth century these nuns possessed a convent at Liege in 
Belgium, which was destroyed by fire in 1468, and afterwards trans- 
ferred to Huy . Frangoise d' Amboise, duchess of Brittany, founded two 
convents, and took the veil in that of Coets. She was beatified by Pius 
IX. Sixty-one 3'ears before the birth of St. Teresa, the convent of 
Astorga in Spain had been established. This same country was to be- 
hold the rejuvenescence of Carmel. The saint of Avila m'ade her 
profession on November 3d, 1534, in the monastery of the Incarnation 
in her native city. Twenty-eight years later she established her first 
monastery of the Reformed Rule, and before her death the number 
of convents where Discalced Carmelite nuns labored in silence for God's 
glory, their own, and their neighbor's salvation, had increased to sev- 
enteen. The rule observed by the Discalced Carmelite Sisters, is, to 
a great extent, similar to that of the friars, with a few exceptions. 
The Sisters are entirely cloistered ; they never speak to persons out- 
side of the community, except their nearest relatives, but with their 
faces covered by a veil. They do not recite the Office at midnight, 
but before retiring to rest. Their fasting and abstinence is of the same 
rigor as that of the friars. Each community has its own novitiate. 

A short time after the death of St. Teresa, another saint lived in a 
Carmelite monastery of the mitigated rule in Florence. It was Cath- 
erine de Pazzi, who had entered that convent at the age of sixteen, and 
is now better known as St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi. Like St. Teresa r 
she reached the highest degrees of the contemplative life. She died on 
May 25th, 1607, at the age of forty-one. The Discalced Carmelite nuns 
were then not unknown in Italy, for they had established a convent at 
Genoa in 1590. In 1604 they entered into France. They were in- 
debted for their first foundation in that country to Madame Accarie, a 
noble lady of Paris. With the assistance of the Princess Catherine 
d'Orleans de Longueville, and the approbation of Pope Clement VIIL 
and of King Henry IV., she took steps to obtain the Discalced Carmel- 
ites for France. After two years of negotiations, Blessed Ann of 
Jesus, and four other religious, established their convent at Notre Dame 
des Champs in Paris. This was in 1604. Other convents were suc- 
cessively established at Pontoise, Dijon, and Amiens. Madame Acca- 
rie, after the death of her husband, took the veil in the latter convent, and 
assumed the name of Mary of the Incarnation. Out of humility she 
became a lay-sister, and died as such at Pontoise on April 18, i6i8» 
Her three daughters also became Carmelites. Mary of the Incarna- 
tion was beatified by Pius VI. in 1791. 



CARMELITE NUNS. 



299 



In 1603 Clement VII L had decreed that the Camelite convent of 
Paris should be subject to three secular Priests, Andre Duval, Jacques 
Gallemant, and Pierre de Berulle, and that the regular visit should be 
made by the prior of the Carthusians until the Discalced Carmelite 
Friars should obtain a foundation in France. When these religious ar- 
rived, the nuns believed themselves to be under their jurisdiction, but 
M. de Berulle opposed them in this, and the authority of the Holy See 
finally decided that they should be exempt from the jurisdiction of 
the order, and that all those who wished to be subject to the Carmel- 
ite Friars should be allowed to leave the kingdom. An exception was 
nevertheless made in favor of the convent of Avignon and a few others 
which remained subject to the order. 

In 1607 Blessed Ann of Jesus founded her convent of Brussels, and 
thus introduced her order into Belgium, where it spread rapidly. 
Among the establishments of these religious, especial mention is de- 
served by the convent founded for English ladies at Antwerp in 1616, 
and by that of Hoogstraeten, which was a filiation from that of Ant- 
werp. From these two convents are descended our Carmelite monas- 
teries in the United States.' 

Institutions of these nuns were, at various intervals, established in 
Holland, Germany, Poland, and other countries. Those of England 
were founded in that country after the French Revolution, and three 
of them are the Belgian communities of Antwerp, Hoogstraeten, and 
Lierre, which were transferred. 

The Carmelites are the oldest female community in our country. 
They crossed the Atlantic in 1790, and established themselves near 
Portobacco in Charles Co., Maryland, where they remained until 1831, 
when they removed to Baltimore. They founded convents at St. 
Louis in 1863, at New Orleans in 1877, and at Boston in 1890. They 
have continued to observe to the letter their rule, and they are a great 
source of edification to the Church in the United States. 

At the present time the monasteries of Carmelite nuns are, some 
under the jurisdiction of the order, and others subject to the diocesan 
authorities, but the latter share equally in all the privileges of the order 
with the others. The communities in the United States are under the 
jurisdiction of the diocesan authorities. 

Many illustrious and saintly personages have, at various periods, 
added their names to the list of Carmelite nuns. Among these stand 
foremost, beside Blessed Ann of Jesus, Blessed Mary of the Incarna- 
tion, Venerable Ann of St. Bartholomew, and others, the saintly daugh- 
ter of Louis XV., Sister Teresa of Saint Augustine, known as Madame 

1 Currier: Carmel. in America. 



300 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Louise de France, Louise de Seguier, mother of the Cardinal de Be- 
rulle, Marie Sylvie de Larochefoucault, sister of the Cardinal of that 
name, and Mademoiselle de Brissac. These and many more left all the 
world could offer, and have bequeathed an illustrious example to pos- 
terity. 



ON ST. TERESA'S FOOTSTEPS. 



TOURING our late journey through Spain, there was nothing- near- 
ly er to our heart than a visit to the places sanctified by the life and 
death of the great Reformer of CarmeL Travelling from north to 
south, the first place where we met with recollections of the saint was 
Burgos, where she had founded her last convent. Thence we proceed- 
ed to Valladolid, Salamanca, and Alba de Tormez, where her mortal 
remains repose. A never-to-be-forgotten day was spent at Avila, a 
place fraught with the memories of St. Teresa. It was here that on 
March 28th, 15 15, she first beheld the light of day. The house where 
her parents resided still exists, but it has undergone an entire trans- 
formation, it having been converted into a church, to which a monas- 
tery of Discalced Carmelite friars is attached. Nevertheless, the room 
in which the saint was born, and an adjoining one, which was used 
by her father as an office, have been left entire, though at present St. 
Teresa's room is decorated. Outside is the little yard where, with 
her brother, she amused herself in building hermitages. Through 
the courtesy of the prior of the monastery, several objects which had 
been used by the saint were shown us, among which was her rosary. 
It was from this house that the youthful Teresa, in company with 
her brother Rodrigo, descended the rocky and narrow street which 
leads to one of the gates of the city, the Puerta de la Santa. Leaving 
Avila by that gate, she crossed the Adaja on the bridge beyond which 
lies the road to Salamanca, which you behold winding over the plains 
towards yonder mountains. This bridge was the most convenient to 
her house, and it was consequently taken by the children, ignorant of 
the fact that the road to Salamanca would lead them away from the 
country of the Moors, where they hoped to find the crown of martyr- 
dom. Follow the road outside the walls by turning to the left, and 
you will reach the Augustinian convent where Teresa de Ahumada 
received her early education. Not far from it is the episcopal palace 
which was once the college of the Society of Jesus, the Fathers of 
which were so highly esteemed by St. Teresa, and who rendered her 
such great services in the direction of her soul. , 

Return now to the Puerta de la Santa, and take the road outside the 
walls, and you will reach the monastery of the Incarnation, where St. 

301 



302 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Teresa entered the Order of Carmel and where she spent so many years 
of her life. In a chapel of the church of this monaster}- you will see 
a large slab. It indicates the spot where the cell of the saint once 
stood. Enter into the parlors of the monastery. It was through that 
same doorway that the youthful Teresa passed when she had left her 
father's house to receive the religious habit in the order to which the 
Monastery of the Incarnation still belongs. At present the nuns are 
cloistered, though they were not thus in St. Teresa's time. However, 
they have not embraced her Reform, but they still follow the mitigated 
rule of Carmel. Ascend the staircase to the left, and you will find 
yourself in the little parlor where^, and before the grating at which, St. 
Teresa conversed with St. Francis de Borgia, Father Alvarez, and 
others. Look t hrough the grating and the spot will be pointed out to 
you at the foot of a staircase where the saint had a vision of the Infant 
Jesus. Descend to the floor below and you will find yourself in the little 
parlor, separated by a grating from the interior of the monastery, where 
St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross were wrapt in ecstasy while con- 
versing on heavenly subjects. In this monastery several objects be- 
longing to the saint will be shown to you. Outside of the conventyou 
will observe a well from which the water is drawn by means of horses. 
The same arrangement we observed elsewhere in Spain. This, no 
doubt, suggested to St. Teresa a similitude she uses in one of her spir- 
itual works. 

Retracing your steps from the Monastery of the Incarnation, a few 
minutes' walk will bring you to the Dominican Monastery of St. Thomas. 
Here dwelt Father Pedro Ibanez, the friend of St. Teresa, who encour- 
aged her so much during the time she was contemplating the great 
work that has immortalized her. 

Return from this convent to the town, bear to the right, and you 
will reach the Monastery of St. Joseph. Here it was that St. Teresa 
laid the foundations of her Reform. This is the oldest monastery of 
Discalced Carmelite nuns in the world. The little chapel, outside of 
the larger one, was the original chapel of the convent, into which the 
Blessed Sacrament was brought when St. Teresa and her companions 
established themselves in the convent of St. Joseph. In this sanctuary 
the Seraphic Mother frequently received the bread of angels. Within 
the church, in one of the side chapels, is the tomb of her brother, Lor- 
enzo de Cepeda. From this spot the Reform of Carmel spread over 
the world, and from here Teresa herself went forth to found no 
less than sixteen other convents. We visited two of these besides 
those of Avila and Alba de Tormes. At Valladolid, as at Avila, there 
is a tree planted by St. Teresa herself. The last establishment of the 



ON ST TERESA'S FOOTSTEPS 



303 



saint was that of Burgos. Her hour had now arrived, and from here 
she departed for Alba de Tormes, where she breat hed her last. We 
probably followed the route of the saint, when, leaving Burgos, we 
proceeded via Valiadolid, Medina del Campo, and Salamanca to the 
last named little town. Alba de Tormes lies beyond a range of hills at 
a distance of about twelve miles from Salamanca. The road leading 
to it is the one St. Teresa was wont to follow. There is still on the road- 
side a fountain where she is said to have quenched her thirst. A drive 
of about two hours brings you to the town where Teresa, having accom- 
plished her mission, worn and weary, came to seek the long rest which 
ends all human activity within this mortal sphere. Ascend the steep 
hill which received the last weary footsteps of her whose every foot- 
step, at least during the latter portion of her life, had been for God. It 
passes the parish church, and winding along the high walls of the con- 
vent, brings you opposite the monastery of the Discalced Carmelite 
Friars, and the church of the nuns. Enter within the sacred precincts 
of the latter. Do you notice that delicate and more than earthly per- 
fume? Its fragrance fills the church. It is the sweet odor attached to 
the relics of the saint. After kneeling before the altar, look upward ; 
a mark in the wall draws your attention to the spot where St. Teresa 
lay in her last illness. That grating to the left will allow you to cast 
a glance into the room where the saint of Avila breathed her last. 
Walk up towards the sanctuary. To the left is the spot where the 
body of the saint first reposed. That body is now above the altar in a 
precious reliquary, though not visible. It is in a state of preservation, 
although sadly mutilated by false devotion. The heart out of which 
several thorns have grown will be shown to you. It is enclosed in a 
beautiful relic case. 

The monastery is also in possession of several relics of the saint. 
Here also lie buried her sister, Juana de Ahumada, and the latter's 
husband, Juan de Ovalle. 



THE THIRD ORDER OF MOUNT CARMEL. 



THIS order appears to have been instituted in the fifteenth century, 
if not earlier. It was approved by Nicolas V. in 1452, and by Sixtus 
IV. in 1476. Its object was to unite persons living in the world with 
the order of Mary. Its members were allowed to wear the Carmelite 
habit, and they observed the rule of the order as far as their condition 
in life permitted. These persons were thus made participants in all the 
privileges of the order. 

In 1635, Father Theodore Stratio, General of the Carmelites, com- 
posed a special rule for the members of the Third Order. It was re- 
vised and amended by Father Emilio Giacomelli, in 1678. They take 
the vow of chastity according to their state of life, and that of obedience 
in matters appertaining to their soul, to the General of the order, 
either of the Calced or Discalced Carmelites, as the case may be. The 
Third Order subject to the Discalced Carmelites bears the title of 
Third Order of Mount Carmel and of St. Teresa. Various privileges 
have been conferred upon it by the Soverign Pontiffs. 1 

Sixtus IV. in his Bull Attenta of November 28, 1476, decreed that the 
members of the Third Order of Mount Carmel share in all the exemp- 
tions, immunities, liberties, indulgences and all other privileges which 
until then, had been granted by the Soverign Pontiffs, his, predecessors, to 
the Order of Our Blessed Lady of Mount Carmel, and also in all those 
which in future would be granted. Benedict XIII. by a Bull Exponi 
Nobis of August 30th, 1727, places the tertiaries of Our Lady of Mount 
Carmel under the jurisdiction of the Prior-General of the order. 

Certain members of the Third Order of Mount Carmel live in com- 
munity. A few of these communities exist in the United States, 
namely, in Louisiana. 

The habit consists of a scapular of cloth, or in Summer, of serge, of 
a brown color, about twenty-four inches long and twelve inches wide, 
which must be blessed and put on the postulant by one who has facul- 
ties. 

Slight differences exist between the rule of the tertiaries belonging 
to the Calced Carmelites and that followed by those of the Discalced. 2 

1 See Manuel des Enfants du Carmel by Rev. Alexis Louis of St. Joseph. 
3 See "The Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel," by Rev. Father Pius, and Manual for 
the Members of the Third Order of Most Holy Mary of Carmel and of St. Teresa. 

304 




AUGUST! N IAN FRIARS 



HERMITS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. 

ST. Augustin, Bishop of Hippo in the fourth century, contributed to 
such an extent towards the propagation of the monastic life in 
Africa, that he was even considered its founder. 

In 388, the saint, together with several companions, among whom 
were Evodius, Alipius and Severus, began to lead a monastic life at 
Tagaste. It was from this community that he was taken to be invested ■ 
with the sacerdotal dignity in the church of Hippo, of -which he 
afterwards became Bishop. Here he founded another monastery, 
and several others were established in various parts of Africa by his 
disciples. After the incursions of trie Vandals, many of the African 
monks established monasteries in Europe, and among them were, no 
doubt, disciples of the great Doctor of the African church. 

It is not certain whether these African monks followed any special 
rule. That which bears the name of St. Augustin is taken from a let- 
ter adressed by the Holy Doctor to nuns in the year 423. It was after- 
wards accommodated to the use of men, but when and under what 
circumstances this was done is not certain. Both the Canons Regular 
and the Hermits of St. Augustin endeavor to trace their descent from 
the monks established by St. Augustin, but the subject still remains a 
matter of controversy. Of the former we have already treated in the 
second part of this book; there now remains for us to speak of the latter. 

At a certain period of the Middle Ages, as we have been able to re- 
mark, there existed a pronounced taste for the solitary or eremitical 
life. It produced the orders of Camaldoli, Vallombrosa, Citeaux, the 
Carthusians, and others. It also brought forth numerous independent 
congregations of hermits, who lived in various portions of Europe, and 
followed separate observances. The union of these congregations into 
one produced the Order of Hermits of St. Augustin. This union was 
effected by Pope Alexander IV. about the year 1254. But ere we 
proceed, it will be well to cast a glance at the separate congregations 
out of which this order was formed. 

It may be, says Helyot, that some of the monasteries of the different 
congregations which were united by Pope Alexander IV. had been 
founded by disciples of St. Augustin, but it is certain that the hermits 
of Tuscany and the John-Bonites originally possessed no rule, but that 

305 



306 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Pope Innocent IV. gave them that of St. Augustin. The oldest of the 
congregations which entered into the general union was that of the 
John-Bonites, thus called from Blessed John-Bon or Giovanni-Buono> 
their founder, who was born in Mantua about the year 1168. His 
early youth was irregular, but, after the death of his parents, he began 
to give himself up to the exercises of penance in a little house where 
he dwelt alone. After living thus for several years, the sanctity of 
his life began to draw disciples around him. Their number having 
increased, they obtained from Pope Innocent IV. the permission to 
follow the rule of St. Augustin. Their founder died in 1249. 

The Congregration of Brittinians, thus called from Brittini in the 
March of Ancona, where they first established themselves, was founded 
-during the pontificate of Gregory IX., who gave to it the rule of St» 
Augustin. Its members led a very austere life, observing perpetual 
abstinence and the long fast from the feast of the Exaltation of the 
Holy Cross until Easter, besides on all Wednesdays, Fridays, and 
Saturdays of the year. 

Other congregations were those of Vallersuta, St. Blasius of Fano, 
St. Benedict of Montefabalo, and many more which differed from one 
another in their various observances. It appears that the hermits of 
John-Bon wore a grey habit similar to that of the Franciscans of their 
day, until Pope Gregory IX. commanded that they should hencefor- 
ward t?e clothed in a black or white habit with wide sleeves and a 
leathern girdle, and that they should carry in their hand a long stick 
in the form of a crutch. All this was done in order to distinguish 
them from the Friars-Minor, with whom they were liable to be con- 
founded. 

From the first year of his pontificate in 1254, Alexander IV. began 
to work at the union of these various congregations, and appointed 
Richard, Cardinal of St. Angelo, to attend to the affair. The Cardinal 
immediately wrote to the superiors of the various congregations, sum- 
moning them to appear before him, but could not succeed in gather- 
ing them together until 1256, when they convened in the convent of 
Santa Maria del Popolo. The congregations which sent representa- 
tives were those of Vallersuta, the Torre delle Palme, the Penitence 
of Jesus Christ, St. Benedict of Montefabalo, the Williamites, the John- 
Bonites, the Brittinians, that of Santa Maria de Murceto, of Saint 
James of Montilio, and a congregation which existed near Lucca. 
These agreed to form one order under the same General. Lanfranc 
Septala, the Superior of the John-Bonites, was elected General. At 
the same time, the order was divided into four provinces, namely, those 
of France, German}^, Spain, and Italy. All this was confirmed by 



HERMITS OF 8T. A UGUSTIN. 



307 



Alexander IV. in a Bull of the same year, and in another of the 
following year he exempted the order from the jurisdiction of the 
Bishops, and gave to it Richard as its Cardinal Protector, with power 
to draw up regulations for its government. 

After this union, the Williamites, of whom we treated in the first 
part of this work, and who had always observed the rule of St. Bene- 
dict, opposed the union, either because their delegates had exceeded 
their powers, or for some other reason, and requested to remain in 
their present condition under the rule of St. Benedict and the Insti- 
tute of St. William. The Pope granted their request in 1256, and they 
remained a separate body. Not all the convents of the Congregation 
of the Penitence of Jesus Christ entered the union, but to those who 
refused to do so the admission of novices was forbidden. Pope Inno- 
cent IV., and later, Alexander IV., dispensed the Hermits of St. Au- 
gust! 11 from the obligation of carrying sticks in their hands. The 
first constitutions of the order were approved by the Council of Flor- 
ence in 1287. They were not so austere as those of the Benedictines. 
According to the constitutions of 1580, the abstinence from meat on 
all the Wednesdays of the year is recommended to the members of 
the order. They increased greatly in numbers, so that in the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century the order was divided into forty-two 
provinces. The office of sacristan of the Pope's chapel was annexed 
to this order. This was confirmed to them by Alexander VI., and it 
afterwards became customary to raise the one who held this office to 
the episcopal dignity. Among the duties of this sacristan is that of 
administering the Viaticum and Extreme Unction to the Pope on his 
death-bed. 

In 1567, Pius V. placed the Order of Hermits of St. Augustin among 
the four Mendicant orders, namely, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, 
the Carmelites, and the Hermits of St. Augustin. To these he also 
added the Servites. 

The Augustinian order acquired an unenviable reputation from its 
being the one whence the founder of Protestantism went forth. Mar- 
tin Luther, as is well known, had been a member of this order in the 
monastery of Erfurt. On the other hand, it has given many distin- 
guished men to the Church, whose merits have counterbalanced the 
defection of the father of Protestantism. Saints Thomas of Villanova, 
Nicolas of Tolentino, and John Facundo were members of the Augus- 
tinian Order. Many men distinguished for their learning have also 
been Hermits of St. Augustin. 

This order, like so many others, gradually became relaxed, so that 
the necessity of reformation arose. The first of these reforms was 



308 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



that of Iliceto, where it was introduced by the General Ptolomy of 
Venice, who gave a Vicar-General to all the convents which united with 
this monastery to form the Congregation of Iliceto. The Congrega- 
tion of Saint John de Carbonara in Naples was founded by Fathers 
Simon of Cremona and Christian Franco, and that of Perugia by Father 
Augustin of Rome in 1419. The Congregation of Lombardy, founded 
in 1430, or 1438, was the most numerous of the various congregations 
governed by a Vicar-General. There were also congregations of Genoa, 
and of Muriano. The Congregation of Saxony, which consisted of 
many convents of Germany and Bavaria, was established about the 
year 1493. In 1503, it was exempted from the jurisdiction of the Gen- 
eral of the order, and, a few years later, John Staupitz became its Gen- 
eral. It was this congregation that nourished Luther in its bosom. 
His apostasy was its death-blow, for he carried most of its members, 
along with him into heresy. 

Various other congregations were formed in Spain, Italy, and Sicily, 
for the purpose of practising the regular observance. One of the most 
austere was that of the Centorbi, or the Reformed Augustinians of 
Sicily, founded toward the close of the sixteenth century by Father 
Andrea del Guasto. 

The habit of the Augustinian friar when at home consists of a white 
tunic and scapular. In choir and when leaving the house he wears a 
black cowl, with a hood round in front and pointed on the back. His 
girdle is of leather. In some 'congregations the color of the entire 
habit is black. 

The Augustinians possess also their third order, which dates prob- 
ably from the reign of Boniface IX. in the fifteenth century. * 

The Irish and English Augustinians were erected into a distinct 
province early in the fifteenth century. The}% of course, shared 
the fate of other religious at the time of the Suppression, although 
they remained in Ireland during the days of persecution, At that 
time they were obliged to send their novices to Italy and France. 
One of their number, Dr. Car r, who was educated in their colleges 
of Paris and Bordeaux, and who was afterwards for several years at- 
tached to a church of his order in Dublin, came to the United States 
in 1790. He built St. Augustine's church in Philadelphia, which was 
solemnly dedicated in 1800. Other Fathers of his order followed him, 
and they have ever since labored in the diocese of Philadelphia, where 
they direct the flourishing college of Villanova. One of their mem- 
bers, Father Galberry, became Bishop of Hartford. 1 The Augustin* 



1 De Courcy, — Shea. 



HERMITS OF ST A UG UST1N. 



309 



ians also devote themselves to the work of the missions. The order, 
which suffered greatly at the time of the French Revolution, exists to- 
day in several countries of Europe, such as Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, 
Holland, Spain, Austria, and Ireland. 



DISCALCED AUGUSTINIANS. 

THE founder of this branch of the Augustinian order, Father Thomas 
of Jesus, was born in Lisbon in 1520. Educated under the care 
of Father Louis de Montoya, reformer of the Hermits of St. Augustin 
in Portugal, he entered the order at the age of fifteen, and, after his 
profession, he was sent to continue his studies at Coimbra, and later 
he became distinguished as a preacher. There were at this time con- 
gregations of the Augustinian order in Italy, in which a stricter obser- 
vance prevailed than in that of Portugal, and for this reason it frequent- 
ly happened that fervent religious, desirous of greater regularity, passed 
over to Italy. Father Thomas of Jesus, seeing this, believed that, 
in order to retain such useful subjects at home, and also in order to 
satisfy his own desire of greater perfection, it would be well to intro- 
duce into his own country practices which would surpass in austerity 
those of all other existing congregations of Augustinians. For this 
reason he began the reform of the Discalced Augustinians, aided by 
the authority of Dom Henry, Infante of Portugal, and of Father Louis 
de Montoya, Visitor of the province. Several religious of Portugal 
and Castile embraced it, but the great majority of the religious were 
so violent in their opposition that Father Thomas was obliged to yield 
to the storm and desist from the enterprise. He now buried himself in 
obscurity in the convent of Pefia-Firme, whence he was taken to fol- 
low Dom Sebastian in an expedition to Africa. The Christian army 
being defeated, the saintly religious was taken prisoner by the Ma- 
hometans and subjected to the most inhuman treatment. By a heroic 
act of Christian charity, he refused to be ransomed in order to be 
able to render assistance to his Christian fellow-slaves. He gave to 
God and to mankind the greatest mark of charity it was in his power 
to give, and ended his blessed life as a slave of the Mussulmans on 
April 17th, 1532, at the age of 53. The memory of such men, of whom 
the world, alas ! possesses too few, ought never to perish, but rather 
to be recorded with indelible characters upon the pages of history, to 
be handed down as a glorious record to posterity. It was only after 
the death of this hero of charity, that a new impulse was given to the 
work of reform he had inaugurated, but which had been crushed in its 
infancy. On a visit of the General of the order, Petrochini de Montel- 

310 



DISCALCED A UG USTINIANS. 



31?1 



Paro to Castile, in 1588, it was decided that the convent of Talavera 
should be set aside as a house of recollection. Here, during the pontifi- 
cate of SixtusV., and the reign of Philip II., began the reform of the 
Discalced Augustinians, thus called from the fact of those who em- 
braced it having adopted the custom of walking barefooted, a cus- 
tom, which, as we have seen, began in the same century to prevail 
among the Carmelites, Trinitarians, and Franciscans, who followed a 
reformed rule. The reform, after its establishment at Talavera, 
spread in Spain, and went over to Italy in 1 591 , when Father Andrew 
Diaz established it in the Convent of Our Lady of the Olive in Naples. 
Shortly after, it obtained a convent in Rome. In 1624 Urban VIII. 
divided it in Italy into the four provinces of Rome, Naples, Genoa, and 
Sicily. Two years later it obtained a foothold in Germany. A beau- 
tiful convent was built at Prague in Bohemia, and another at Vienna 
in Austria. The reform continued to increase to such an extent in 
Italy that another province, that of Piedmont, was formed out of the 
Genoese province, while the Neapolitan province was divided into 
four, namely, the provinces of Naples, Calabria, Sicily, and Palermo. 

While the reform was progressing in Italy, the Provincial of the 
Augustinians in Spain did all he could to destroy it, and he would 
have succeeded had it not been for the king, who forbade him to fur- 
ther molest the members of the reform. 

In 1596 the Discalced Augustinians were introduced into France 
by Fathers Francis Amet and Mathew of St. Frances, both of whom had 
embraced the reform in Italy. In 1610 the French Discalced Augus- 
tinians obtained from the General the privilege of being governed by a 
Vicar-General of their own. Several years previously those of Spain 
had been placed under their own provincial, and they had thus been 
separated from the other religious of the order in that country. They 
remained in this condition until 1622, when they were erected into a 
separate congregation under a Vicar-General, subject to the General 
of the order. Members of this congregation were among the early 
missionaries of Japan, whither they had penetrated in 1603, and where 
several of their number suffered martyrdom. The Spanish Discalced 
Augustinians are more austere than those of either France or Italy. 
The three branches differ in their observances as well as in their habit. 
Those of France and Italy wear a habit similar in form to that of the 
Capuchins, but of a black color. Their girdle is of leather. It also 
became customary for the French members of the reform to wear a 
beard. The Spaniards differ from the others in the form of their hood. 

However, this austere reform had, with the vicissitudes of time, de- 
generated, and approached nearer to the common observance, so that 



312 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



mitigations were conceded to it by the Sovereign Pontiffs. Thus Ben- 
edict XIV. dispensed the French members from the rule prescribing 
that they should be barefooted. New constitutions were drawn up in 
the general chapter held in Paris in 1769, which were approved by 
Clement XIV. in 1772. 



AUGUSTINIAN NUNS 



AUGUSTINIAN NUNS. 



ST. Augustin, the great doctor of Hippo, was the founder of a mon- 
astery of nuns in his episcopal city. His sister was its Superior, 
and governed it until her death. It was to the nuns of this monastery 
that he addressed a letter in which is contained what has since been 
known as the rule of St. Augustin. The occasion which brought it 
forth was a dissension that had arisen in the monastery, for in the days 
of St. Augustin troubles and dissensions were to be found in relig- 
ious communities as well as in our day. Since that period there have 
existed numerous communities of women who follow the rule of St. 
Augustin, either as Regular Canonesses, as Hermits of St. Augustin, 
or as members of congregations separate from these two classes. The 
nuns of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustin have always worn 
a black habit with a leathern girdle around their waist. The greater 
number of their monasteries is not subject to the order, but to the 
diocesan authorities. 

A reform of the nuns of this order was effected in Spain, in 1589, by 
Father Alfonso d'Orozco of the Hermits of St. Augustin. Until the 
year 1600 it was subject to the jurisdiction of the Discalced Augus- 
tinians, when it passed under that of the Hermits of St. Augustin. 
In 1597 another branch of the order was established at Alcoy in 
Spain, by John de Ribera, patriarch of Antioch and Archbishop of 
Valencia. These nuns adopted the rule and the habit of the Order 
of St. Augustin, together with the constitutions of the Discalced Car- 
melite nuns. Three Sisters of the Carmelite monastery of Valencia 
spent some time at Alcoy to instruct the members of the new founda- 
tion in their mode of life and practices according to the constitution of 
St. Teresa. The Sisters of this reform added to the three ordinary 
vows of religion, a fourth one, by which they bound themselves never 
to speak to persons outside of the monaster}'. Their habit on ordin- 
ary days was white, but on feast-days they wore black. 

Mother Marianna of St. Joseph, born in 1568 at Alba de Tormes in 
Spain, was the founder of a Congregation of Augustinian nuns which 
bears the name of the Recollection. She was sent for her education 
to the Augustinian monastery of Ciudad Rodrigo, in which she after- 
wards consecrated herself to God, took the vows of religion, and in 

313 



314 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



which she was in course of time, chosen Superior. Desirous of follow- 
ing a stricter observance than that which was practised in her monastery, 
she was delighted when she learned from Father Antonilez, Provincial 
of Castile, that to satisfy the desire of several other religious he in- 
tended to found a house of the Strict Observance at Eybar. She was 
at the same time surprised to learn that he intended her to be the cor- 
ner-stone of the new edifice. Although she submitted to obedience, 
difficulties innumerable presented themselves to her imagination, but 
grace finally gained the victory, and she resolved to devote herself to 
the undertaking. Accompanied by Mother Leonora of the Incarnation, 
she set. out for Avila, where she met two other Sisters that had come 
from Toledo, and whence she continued her journey to Eybar, where 
they arrived on May 7th, 1603. The church of the new monastery at 
this place was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin. They embraced the strict and unmitigated observance of the 
rule of St. Augustin, together with the constitutions drawn up for 
them by Father Antonilez, which Mother Marianna herself augmented, 
and for which she obtained the approbation of Pope Paul V. Their 
observances were very austere, and .somewhat similar to those of the 
Discalced Carmelites. They bound themselves to their new mode of life 
by solemn vows on May 23d, 1604. It was at the same time that 
they abandoned their family names, as do the Carmelites of St. Ter- 
esa's reform, to take those of saints or of the mysteries of our holy 
Religion. After this first establishment, others followed successively 
at Medina del Campo, Valladolid, Placencia, Madrid, Villafranca, and 
other places. Mother Marianna, whose life had been one of great 
virtue, died on April 15th, 1638, leaving the congregation she had 
founded firmly established. 

There exists at Angers in France a community of Augustinian 
nuns, founded in 1835 by religious from a house of the same order in 
Paris. They bear the title of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and their 
object is the education of girls, both of the humbler and of the wealth- 
ier classes, and the affording of a place of permanent retreat to ladies. 
Another teaching community of Augustinian nuns is that which bears 
the title of the Interior of Mary and which was founded in France in 
1829. 

There was in Ireland a monastery of Augustinian nuns, founded 
about 1 15 1 by Dermot, son of Murchard, king of Leinster. 

An order founded in 1408 was that of the Congregation of St. Am- 
brose and St. Marcellina, also called the Annonciades of Lombardy, by 
three Venetian ladies, Dorothy Morosini, Leonora Contarini, and Ver- 
onica Duodi, under the direction of Father Gregory Becaria, a Bene- 



A UG US Tim AN NUNS. 



315 



dictine. It was governed by a Prioress-General, and this form of gov- 
ernment was approved by Pope Nicholas V., but Pius V. objected 
to their leaving their cloisters, and forbade them to hold general chap- 
ters. After this period the various monasteries became subject to the 
Bishops of their respective dioceses. Their habit was brown, and they 
followed the rule of St. Augustin. Many members of this order 
died in the odor of sanctity. 

Among the nuns who follow the rule of St. Augustin, the Peni- 
tents deserve especial mention. These are religious who have led in 
the world a life of dissolution, but being converted to God, desire to 
lead the life of religious. One of their principal monasteries was that 
of Saint Mary Magdalen in Rome. It was originally a parish dedi- 
cated to St. Lucius, and its church was built by Honorius I. in 626. 
Leo X. gave it to a society established to take charge of fallen women, 
and he rebuilt the church and dedicated it to St. Mary Magdalen. 
The religious of this monastery were clad in black. One peculiarity of 
the monastery is that the nuns had no novitiate, but took solemn vows 
as soon as they received the habit. 

A branch of this monastery is that of Longara, also in Rome. It 
was established by religious who desired to lead lives more austere 
than that followed by the nuns of the Convent of St. Mary Magdalen. 

Other monasteries of the same class and under the same rule were 
founded in various places, such as Seville in Spain. At Orvieto, in 
Italy, there was a community of penitents which followed the rule of 
the Discalced Carmelites. 



ANTONINES. 



THE sickness known as St. Anthony's fire was the occasion of the 
establishment of the.Orderof Antonines,or of St. Anthony of Vi- 
enne. It began in 1093, during the pontificate of Urban II., and it was 
founded for the assistance of those persons who suffered from the mal- 
ady mentioned. This disease prevailed especially during the eleventh 
and the twelfth centuries. It caused the loss of the limb attacked, 
which became dry and black, as if it had been burned, or it rotted away. 

The son of a gentleman in Dauphine, named Gaston, was taken ill 
by the disease, and all natural remedies failing, the father had recourse 
to St. Anthony, promising that if his prayer were heard, they would 
both devote themselves to the care of persons similarly afflicted. A 
miraculous cure followed/and the vow wasexecuted. Fatherandson 
built a hospital near the Church of St. Anthony in the town of Saint 
Didier-la-Mothe. They adopted a black habit, marked with the 
Greek letter tan in blue, as St. Anthony had shown in a vision to Gas- 
ton. Several persons joined them, and thus the foundations of the or- 
der were laid. Urban II. approved of it in the Council of Clermont. 
The members of the order were called Brothers, and the Superior bore 
the title of Grand-Master. Its founder, Gaston, died in 1 120. Honorius 
III., in 1218, permitted the members to take the three vows of religion. 
Boniface VIII., in 1297, decreed that the Brothers should adopt the 
rule of St. Augustin and the title of Canons Regular, and that their 
Superior should be called Abbot. All the monasteries of the order 
were rendered dependent on the abbey of St. Anthony, which was 
their first foundation, and which was directly subjected to the Holy 
See. 4 

In course of time many abuses crept into the order, which were not 
remedied until the general chapter held in 1616, although the reform 
was not accepted in all the houses of the order. It has given to the 
Church several Bishops and Cardinals. 

In the eighteenth century the order began to decline for want of 
subjects, and moreover it had to encounter the opposition of the 
secular powers in France, Germany, and Italy. In 1775, in order to 
avert their threatened ruin, the Antonines united canonically with the 
Knights of Malta, with the approbation of Pius VI. The Knights tak- 

316 



ANTONINES. 



317 



ing possession of the goods thus acquired, with little consideration, it 
appears, for the feelings of those who had thrown themselves into 
their arms, the Antonines repented of the steps they had taken, and 
endeavored, but in vain, to separate from the Knights. When the 
French Revolution broke out, only a few Antonines still remained in 
France, and these were put to death or driven into exile. 



CELLITES, OR ALEXIAN BROTHERS. 



THE origin of this order is a lost fact of history. By some it is placed 
in the year 1309. At first these Brothers were seculars, bound by 
no vow, who took charge of the sick. They were afterwards permitted 
to take solemn vows, and placed under the rule of St. Augustin. They 
were called Alexians on account of their having taken St. Alexis as 
their patron, but the origin of the name of Cellite is a matter of con- 
troversy. 

In the seventeenth century they were divided into various provinces, 
subject to different Superiors. They are all laymen, and they receive no 
priests among their members. Their object is to attend the sick, and 
those stricken by pestilence in times of epidemics, bury the dead, and 
direct insane asylums, and houses of correction for children. They 
recite daily the office of the Holy Cross. Their habit is black, with 
scapular, hood, and mantle of the same color. 

There are also nuns of this order who follow the rule of St. Augus- 
tin, and devote themselves to the care of the sick. Their habit is black, 
like that of the Brothers. 

The Alexian Brothers have a house in the diocese of St. Louis. 



/ 




CELLITE NUNS 



THE ORDER OF SERVITES. 



THE thirteenth century, so fertile in saints and religious orders, so 
sublime in its learning- and so excellent in its mystic architecture, 
the century of an Aquinas and a Bonaventure, was the one which gave 
birth to the order of which we shall treat in the following chapter. 
On the feast of the Assumption of the year 1233, seven gentlemen of 
Florence met in an oratory belonging to a society called de Landesi* 
Its principal object was the singing of the praises of the Blessed 
Virgin, and it was to satisfy this obligation that the gentlemen in ques- 
tion, who were merchants of Florence, met on this day. It was indeed 
a memorable day for each of them, and it became the turning point in 
their career. Their names were Bonfiglio Monaldi, Bonaguinta Manet- 
ti, Amedeo de Amiede, Manetto de Lantella, Uguccioni, Sostegno de 
Sostegni, and Alexis Falconieri. By a marvellous action of Divine 
Providence they were all seven inspired with the thought of aban- 
doning the world. Having communicated their thoughts to each other, 
they began to sell their property and distribute the money to the poor. 
This they did with the approbation of Ardinghe, the Bishop of Flor- 
ence. They divested themselves of the senatorial robes they had thus 
far worn, and assumed a poor garment of a gray color, at the same 
time mortifying their bodies by means of hair-shirts and iron chains. 
On September 8th, 1233, they commenced their community life of 
poverty and self-denial, choosing Bonfiglio Monaldi as their Superior, 
after having obtained the blessing of their Bishop. On their first en- 
trance into the city, clad in their new garments, a marvellous event 
occurred, when several suckling babes, on seeing them, exclaimed: 
" Behold the servants of the Virgin!" The extraordinary occurrence 
made such an impression on the Bishop that he advised them to take 
as their name the one that had thus been miraculously bestowed upon 
them. Meanwhile they had chosen a retreat outside of Florence in a 
place called Campus Martius, but this proving unsatisfactory on ac- 
count of the numerous visitors whom the fame of their sanctity at- 
tracted, they removed to Monte-Senario, a portion of which was donat- 
ed to them by the Bishop. Here they found the ruins of an ancient 
castle, on which they immediately began to build a church, the first 
stone of which was laid by the Bishop of Florence. In the neighbor- 

319 



320 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



hood of the church they constructed wooden cells separated from 
one another. 

Their life henceforward resembled more that, of the angels than of 
men. They at first troubled themselves about nothing earthly, and 
lived only on the roots and plants which they found upon the moun- 
tain, but Bonfiglio, their Superior, seeing that it would be impossible for 
human nature to resist such austerities for any length of time, con- 
cluded to send his brethren to the city to gather alms for their sub- 
sistence. John Manetti and Alexis Falconieri were chosen for this 
humiliating mission. How utterly opposed to the spirit of our age 
is this practice of begging alms for the love of poverty! We may add: 
how utterly opposed it is to the spirit of the world at all times! Not 
long ago we heard the remark that it does not seem right that any 
one should live upon the charity of others. These words are true in 
a certain sense, but they admit of a distinction. Undoubtedly, if a 
man, out of sloth, and unwilling to work, casts himself on the liber- 
ality of others, he deserves no assistance, but, if we reflect, we shall 
logically conclude that if any one contributes in any way to the wel- 
fare of others, he deserves to be aided by them. It is on this principle 
that all religions agree that it is meet and just to support those per- 
sons who devote themselves to the spiritual advancement of their 
neighbor, namely, their clergy. We must remember that the Middle 
Ages were the ages of faith, a time when men's minds were not lim- 
ited by the horizon of this earthly life, but when they penetrated be- 
yond it to the world unseen, where spirits dwell. There was then, it 
is true, far less physicial action than there is at present: the power of 
steam had not yet become known, electric wires were a thing of the 
dim future, the sound of the telegraph operator's key had never been 
heard,, factories were not in existence. Men were content to go on 
plodding and treading the traditional ways as their fathers had done 
for generations before. But was there in reality less activity ? When 
we reflect that there is an action of the mind, a working of the soul, 
which far surpasses every material energy, we find a negative reply. 
Those were the days when men believed that man was not only bene- 
fited by iron, steam, and electricity, or by the work of his hands, but 
that there was a nobler work, still more beneficial to the human race: 
the work of the soul's sanctification. Man believed most firmly in the 
efficacy of prayer. Thence sprang forth the custom of contributing 
to the support of those who devoted their lives to this exercise. No 
doubt, abuses existed even in this, but where on earth are there no 
abuses? The faithful contributed largely to the support and even the 
wealth of monasteries ; the increase of this wealth was in some in- 



THE ORDER OF SERVITES. 



321 



stances detrimental to those who obtained it, but a remedy was found. 
The mendicant orders, to practise in still greater perfection the pov- 
erty of Christ, renounced not only individual property, but even 
that of the community, and threw themselves for their daily sub- 
sistence upon the charity of the faithful, to whom they gave in return 
their prayers, their good works, their preaching and spiritual minis- 
trations, and to whom they pledged themselves, above all, to give their 
example. It was not necessity, nor was it sloth that forced the mem- 
bers of these orders thus to lower themselves in the estimation of the 
world, for many of them were rich, and they had abandoned all for 
Christ's sake. We have an example in the founders of the Order of 
Servites. They were opulent citizens of Florence. It certainly was 
not for the gratification ol any natural passion that with the sack of 
the mendicant upon their shoulders, they passed through the streets 
of that very city that had known them in the days of their earthly 
greatness. Neither was theirs the poverty of the heathen philosophers, 
for they looked up to a higher model, the God-Man who despised 
riches to embrace poverty. They had learned their lesson in the pages 
of that book which one among them, St. Philip Benizi, cherished to 
his dying moments; that book was the crucifix. It was this genuine 
love of poverty and humiliation which sent forth the two religious 
from their solitude of Monte Senario to the streets of gay and pleasure- 
loving Florence. However, as the city was nine miles distant from their 
hermitages, and this required them to walk eighteen miles every day, 
two or three of the brethren took up their abode in a hut situated a 
little outside of one of the gates of the city. It was on this spot that, 
at a later date, a large and celebrated monastery, that of the Annonci- 
ade of Florence, arose. 

The reputation of the hermits of Monte Senario spreading far and 
wide, people flocked to their solitude, and even Cardinal Castiglione, 
legate of Gregory IX. in Tuscany and Lombardy, paid them a visit. 
The beauty of the place charmed him to such an extent that he so- 
journed there for some time. Seeing that each one of these good re- 
ligious gave himself over to the rudest austerities, according to his 
own inclinations, the Cardinal advised them to adopt a uniform ob- 
servance. They followed the advice given them, and requested the 
Bishop of Florence, by whose counsels they had thus far been guided, 
to prescribe a rule of life for them. It is said that while the Bishop 
was deliberating on the matter, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her 
servants and showed them a black habit, which she commanded them 
to wear in memory of the Passion of her Son. Father Giani, an histor- 
ian of the order, adds that the Mother of God also gave them the rule of 



322 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



St. Augustin. This apparition is said to have taken place on Good 
Friday of the year 1239. It was for a long time yearly commem- 
orated by the Servites, and a curious custom which long existed in the 
order owed its origin to it. The brethren, namely, were wont to ob- 
serve on Good Friday a ceremony which they called The Burial of 
Christ. On Holy Saturday they celebrated the crowning of the 
Blessed Virgin, and, by indult of Calixtus III. and Innocent VIII., a sol- 
emn Mass was celebrated on the evening of the same day. This prac- 
tice was, however, abolished by Pius V. After the aforementioned vis- 
ion, the brethren of Monte Senario received a habit which consisted 
of a small white tunic, a large black upper tunic, a cincture of leather, 
a scapular and cape. Some of them are said to have changed their 
names on this occasion. The order began now to make progress, and 
branched out to the city of Sienna and other places. All the founders, 
with the exception of Alexis Falconieri, who was deterred by a sense 
of humilit}^ were now promoted to the priesthood in 1241 by Ard- 
inghe, their Bishop, and Cardinal Raynerius, legate of Pope Innocent 
IV., approved their order, which he placed under the protection of 
the Holy See. Bonfiglib Monaldi was in 125 1 elected first General of 
the order, which then possessed four convents. Innocent IV. had, 
at that time, some idea of uniting the Servites with the Hermits 
of St. Augustin, and, consequently, delayed giving his confirmation 
to their order, but, after his death, it was approved by Alexander IV. 
in 1255. After this approbation, Blessed Bonfiglio Monaldi resigned 
his office in a general chapter held at Florence, and Blessed Manetti 
was elected second General. On the death of the latter in 1257, James 
of Sienna succeeded him. During the government of the latter, the or- 
der was divided into the provinces of Tuscany and Umbria, to which, 
later on, that of Romandiola was added. The first of the seven 
founders, St. Bonfiglio Monaldi, died at Monte Senario in 1262. He 
was followed to the grave by Sts. Bartholomew de Amedeis and Ben- 
edict de Lantella. Sts. Sostegni and Uguccioni died on the same day 
and at the same hour, March 3, 1282. During the lifetime of these 
Holy Founders, the order had already spread to France and Ger- 
many. 

One of the most illustrious members of the Order of Servites was 
St. Philip Benizi, who exercised the office of General after St. Benedict 
de Lantella, and who was elected in 1267. St. Philip sent his religious to 
Poland, Hungary, and even the Indies. He arranged the first consti- 
tutions of the order, or rather gathered into one the regulations of 
his predecessors, and decreed that they should be read in the refectory 
every Saturday. About this time the institution of the Servites was 



THE ORDER OF 8ER VITES. 



323 



threatened with destruction. In 121 5 the Council of Lateran had for- 
bidden the establishment of new religious orders, and this had been con- 
firmed by that of Lyons in 1274. Innocent V., who had become Pope in 
1276, took it for granted that the Servites were included in this prohibi- 
tion, and therefore determined to suppress them. He drew the at- 
tention of Cardinal Otthoboni, Protector of the order, to the decree* 
and having cited St. Philip Benizi to Rome, he forbade him to receive 
novices or to sell any of the goods of the order, which he confiscated 
in favor of the Holy See. He at the same time forbade the Servites 
to hear confessions. Fortunately for these religious, the Pope lived 
but a short time, and his successor, John XXII, , did not press the affair. 
It was agitated under Nicholas III., Martin IV., and Honorius IV. T 
during which time the Servites had much to suffer on the side of some of 
the Bishops. Finally, after much deliberation, it was settled in favor 
of the Servites by Honorius IV., in 1286. 

After the death of St. Philip Benizi, the order increased to such an ex- 
tent that it was divided into twenty-seven provinces. Boniface IX. 
granted to it the privileges of the Hermits of St. Augustin; Martin IV., 
those of the Mendicants, and Innocent VIII. made them participants in 
the prerogatives of the four great Mendicant orders. Some of these 
prerogatives consist herein, that the Mendicant friars preach in the 
papal chapels on Sundays and solemn feasts, in Advent and Lent, and 
assist at the obsequies of the Cardinals, during which the Dominicans 
sing the Vespers of the dead, the Franciscans the # first Nocturn of Mat- 
ins, the Augustinians the second Nocturn, the Carmelites the third, 
while the Servites sing Lauds. 

Atone time the order was divided into the two branches of the Con- 
ventuals and Observants, but Father Angelo de Azorelli, one of its 
Generals, united both these branches into one. This division in the 
order, combined with the knowledge he has already acquired concern- 
ing monastic history, will cause the reader to suspect that the fervor 
of the Seven Blessed Fathers had not been constantly kept up among 
their disciples, and he will be correct in his suspicions. What was 
the cause of this diminution of their fervor ? We suppose that the 
same causes were at work which had contributed to the relaxation of 
other orders. Helyot adds that, in their case, and we suppose this to 
be equally true of other orders, the too frequent intercourse with the 
world had caused them to lose the spirit of retreat.' The consequence 
of this was that the beautiful Monte Senario was nearly abandoned. 
In 1404 at a general chapter held at Ferrara, its deserted condition 
greatly impressed the Superiors of the order, and they began to con- 
sider it a duty not to neglect the spot which had been the cradle of 



324 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the order. Father Anthony of Sienna, a man of eminent virtue, and 
other fervent religious, obtained from the General the permission to 
retire to Monte Senario, in order to revive its primitive spirit. They 
here began a reform which grew into a congregation, to which the 
name of the Observance was given, while the other members of the 
order were styled Conventuals. Other monasteries having adopted 
the Observance, the congregation was placed under the jurisdiction of 
a Vicar-General. Monte Senario, however, was immediately subject to> 
the General. Those who dwelt upon it were never allowed to eat meat r 
according to the primitive observance of the order. This reform lasted 
157 years, until the Observants and the Conventuals were united. 

In 1593 a still more austere reform was carried into effect on Monte 
Senario by Bernardino de Ricciolini, with the consent of the General, 
Laelio Ballioni. This undertaking was approved by Clement VIII. in 
1593, and, as the institution of Hermit Servites of Monte Senario, it 
spread to various portions of Italy and to Germany. 

The Order of Servites, or Servants of the Blessed Virgin, numbers 
among those who have at various times professed its rule, many men dis- 
tinguished for the sanctity of their life and for their learning. Its Sev- 
en Founders are canonized saints, and so is Philip Benizi, one of its most 
illustrious Generals, while others possess the title of Blessed. One 
of its Generals, Denis Laurerio, was raised to the dignity of Cardinal. It 
lays claim to one of the famous theologians of the Middle Ages, Hen- 
ricusGandavensis, archdeacon of Tournai, though this right is contested 
by scholars. At all events, in their general chapter of 1609, the Servites 
decreed that, in their houses of study no other doctrine should be 
taught but that of Henry of Ghent. In this they perhaps took as their 
models the Dominicans, who have rendered the doctrine of St. Thomas 
Aquinas obligatory on all the members of the Order of Friars-Preach- 
ers. Paul Sarpi, known as ^ra Paolo, author of the "History of the 
Council of Trent," was a Servite. 

The Servite order, like most orders, has also its Sisters. At what 
precise time this branch of the order began is not certain, though 
Helyot inclines to the belief that it had as its author St. Philip Benizi, 
and that it dates from the time of the conversion by that saint of two 
famous courtisanes, Flora and Helen, who adopted the observances 
of the Servites, and died in the odor of sanctity after leading a most edi- 
fying life. The nuns of this order are also clad in black. 

The Servites possess a monastery at Chicago, Illinois, where they 
serve the church of Our Lady of Sorrows, and from which they also 
devote themselves to the work of the missions. 

These religious have also their third order, which, according to H61- 



THE ORDER OF SER VITES. 



325 



yot, who in this is not in accord with Grani, the annalist of the order, was 
founded by Saint Juliana Falconieri, in 1306. She was a niece of one of 
the Seven Founders. These Tertiaries possess a rule of their own, which 
is very austere. Many illustrious personages have been enrolled among 
its members, such as the Archduchess Ann Catherine de Gonzaga,, 
mother of the Empress Ann of Austria. Some of the Servite Ter- 
tiaries lived in community. 




HERMITS OF ST. PAUL. 

WE have, in the course of this history, frequently made mention of 
persons who followed the eremitical life. The Order of Hermits 
of St. Augustin was composed of various minor congregations of these. 
In the beginning of the thirteenth century, there existed a number 
of hermits in Hungary who lived with the reputation of eminent 
sanctity. Many of them were united by Bartholomew, one of the 
bishops of that country, who gave them a rule, and, in 1215, built a 
monastery for them under the title of St. James of Patach. In 1250 
the hermits of this monastery were united with those of Pisidia,who 
lived in great regularity under the direction of St. Eusebius. Thus 
began to exist a new order which, taking St. Paul the first hermit for 
its patron, also assumed his name. St. Eusebius was elected Superior. 
Having heard of the decree of the Council of Lateran which, forty- 
five years before, had forbidden the establishment of new orders with- 
out the consent of the Holy See, he went to Rome to obtain from 
Urban IV. the confirmation of his order, with permission to follow the 
rule ot St. Augustin. The Sovereign Pontiff referred him to the 
Bishop of Wesprim, with whom he left the decision of the affair. 

This prelate would not give them the rule of St. Augustin, but pre- 
scribed to them anew one in 1263. St. Eusebius died in 1270. After 
his death, Andrew, Bishop of Agria, gave them another rule, in 1297,- 
which they observed until 1308, when Cardinal Gentilis, legate of 
Clement V., allowed them to follow the rule of St. Augustin. Pope 
John XXII. permitted them also to elect a General. The order spread 
throughout Hungary, Poland, Austria, Croatia and Swabia. They 
had also a monastery in Rome. Gregory XI. exempted them, in 
1371, from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, and placed them unde r 
the protection of the Holy See. Boniface IX. made them participants 
in all the privileges of the Carthusians, and Martin V. forbade the re- 
ligious of the order to pass over to another without the permission of 
the Holy See. The habit of these religious consists of a white tunic 
with scapular and hood. They also wear a beard. Their original 
habit had been brown, but it was changed in 1341. 

326 



HERMITS OF ST. PA UL. 



327 



II. 

RELIGIOUS OF THE ORDER OF ST. PAUL, THE FIRST HERMIT, IN 

PORTUGAL. 

Mendo Gomez de Simbra must be considered the founder of this 
order. Before renouncing the world, he had served as captain under 
John I. of Portugal in his wars against the king of Castile. He also 
distinguished himself against the infidels, namely, at the siege of Ceuta 
which fell into the hands of the Christians in 141 5. Renouncing all 
worldly prospects, he retired to a solitude near Setuval, where he 
built an oratory. He afterwards established several hermitages which 
he governed as Superior. Another existing community of hermits at 
Serra de Ossa, having by death lost their Superior, Joam Fernandez, 
invited Mendo Gomez to govern them. He acceded to their request 
only after repeated solicitations on their part, united his hermitages 
to theirs, at the same time constituting Serra de Ossa as the chief place 
of the congregation, which since took the name of St. Paul the First 
Hermit. Mendo Gomez died, after a saintly life, on January 24, 148 1. 
Constitutions for the government of the order were drawn up after his 
death in a general chapter held in 1482, and they were approved by 
Gregory XIII., who confirmed this congregation nearly a century 
later, in 1578, at the request of Cardinal Henry of Portugal. This 
same Cardinal, being legate a latere in that country, gave to them the 
rule of St. Augustin, that they might be conformed to the Hermits of 
St. Paul in Hungary. He also reformed their constitutions, and after 
this period they began to take solemn vows. They then chose as their 
habit a brown tunic with scapular and mantle, and a black hat. They 
were then promoted to the priesthood, and they began to devote them- 
selves to study and preaching. Alexander VI. united them with the 
Hermits of St. Paul in Hungary, but they were again separated, each 
congregation having its own General. They nevertheless continued 
to follow the same observances, differing only in their habit. 

There had once existed in France a congregation of hermits under 
the same name, but it has long since been suppressed, probably by 
Urban VIII. They were also called " Brothers of Death/' because 
they Avorethe figure of a skull on their scapulars, and they were obliged 
to meditate constantly on death. 



THE JERONYMITES. 

THERE have been four orders called Hermits of St. Jerome, namely, 
those of Spain, of Lombardy, of Pisa, and of Fiesole. The first of 
these derived its origin from the Third Order of St. Francis, for, during 
the reign of Alfonso XI. of Castile, several disciples of Blessed Thomas 
of Sienna, a professed member of the Third Order of St. Francis, passed 
over to Spain and established themselves in different hermitages, taking 
St. Jerome as their patron. Several distinguished persons joined them, 
among whom was Pedro-Hernando Pecha, who was the first among 
them to take solemn vows, and who obtained their confirmation from 
Pope Gregory XL, from whom they received the rule of St. Augustin. 
Their habit was to consist of a white tunic and brown scapular, with 
a hood and mantle of the' same color. The first Prior of the order was 
Ferdinand Pecha, also known as Ferdinand of Guadalajara. The 
members of this order exchanged the eremitical for the cenobiti- 
cal life, or that of community. Ferdinand of Guadalajara had obtain- 
ed from the Pope the permission to found four other monasteries, 
which were to be united to his own of St. Bartholomew de Lupiana. 
The other hermits, who had originally come from Italy, and had set- 
tled in the kingdom of Valencia and in Portugal, imitated the exam- 
ple of those of Castile, and embraced the cenobitical life. Those 
of Valencia obtained the approbation of Gregory XL, and those of Por- 
tugal that of Boniface IX., anti-pope of Avignon. The hermits of 
Catalonia had also become cenobites with the approbation of Clem, 
ent VII. 

The life of Ferdinand of Guadalajara, which had been one of great 
sanctity and austerity, was brought to a close in the year 1402. When, 
after his death, the first general chapter was held in 141 5, the order 
possessed twenty-five monasteries in Spain and Portugal. Until then 
these had all been subject to the jurisdiction of their respective ordin- 
aries, and the consequence was that different observances were intro- 
duced into them. In order to establish greater uniformity of customs 
they decided to elect a single Superior and to hold periodical assem- 
blies for the regulation of monastic discipline. The anti-pope, Bene- 
dict XI I L, whom Castile and Aragon accepted as the legitimate sue 
cessor of St. Peter, permitted them to elect a General and exempted 

328 



FR. SIGUENZA, HISTORIAN OF THE ESCURIAL. 



THE JER ONYMITES. 



329 



them from the jurisdiction of the Bishops. At the end of the schism, 
which had divided the Church, Martin V. confirmed in favor of the 
Jeronymites the decrees of Benedict XIII., and a new confirmation 
was obtained from Innocent VIII. 

Nicholas V.,in the year 1447, thought of uniting all the various con- 
gregations of St. Jerome under one head, but at the supplication of 
those in Spain, he left matters as they were. In the reign of Emmanuel, 
king of Portugal, those of that country separated from the Spanish re- 
ligious, but a reunion was effected under Philip II. of Spain, and in 
1595 Clement VIII. decreed that they should all be governed by the 
same General. 

The Order of St. Jerome grew to be very wealthy and powerful in 
Spain and Portugal, but, if we judge them by their convent of Madrid, 
they made a good use of their riches. In said monastery it was cus- 
tomary, when Helyot wrote, to distribute twelve thousand maravedis 
a month to the poor, besides a daily distribution of a large quantity of 
bread and other victuals. This was only a portion of the charity 
practised by that convent. 

It was into a convent of this order, that of St. Jerome de Yuste, called 
by several writers the Monastery of St. Justus, that the Emperor 
Charles V. retired after his abdication in Brussels in 1555, and within it 
he ended his days. Like the Monastery of Madrid, it was known for 
the liberality of its distributions to the poor. 

The religious of this order were always held in high esteem, both in 
Spain and Portugal, so that on various occasions their services were 
employed for the reformation of other religious congregations and of 
military orders. At the time of the conquest of Mexico by Cortez, re- 
ligious of the Order of St. Jerome were governors of the island of 
Santo Domingo. 

They had first worn a brown scapular, but this they afterwards ex- 
changed for a black one. They arise at midnight for Matins, and make 
an hour's meditation daily. 

The nuns of this order were founded at Toledo by Maria Garcias, 
who died on February 10th, 1426. They were not regularly incorpor- 
ated into the Order of St. Jerome until 15 10. At the same time they 
began to observe the enclosure and to take solemn vows. Several 
monasteries of these nuns have been founded in Spain. 

II. 

HERMITS OF ST. JEROME OF BLESSED PETER OF PISA. 
The first name borne by these religious was that of Poor Brothers 
for the Love of fesus Christ; later on they were called Poor Hermits of St. 



330 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Jerome, and after the death of Blessed Peter of Pisa, their founder, 
they took his name. This holy founder was born at Pisa in 1355. At 
the age of twenty-five he abandoned his brilliant worldly prospects, 
and taking a poor garment, retired into solitude. With money given 
to him in alms, he built in his solitude a church, which he dedicated to 
the Blessed Trinity. Foreseeing that he would become the founder 
of a new congregation, he also erected buildings for the accommodation 
of several hermits. In a short time he found himself surrounded by 
twelve companions, who it is said had been robbers, and who were 
converted by his words. The founder now took St. Jerome as the 
patron of his congregation, which assumed the name of that saint. The 
tempter of the human race did all in his power to force him to aban- 
don his solitude, but the holy man overcame the assaults of his enemy 
by means of prayer and mortification. He prescribed great austerities 
to his religious, and forbade the reception into his order of any one 
below eighteen or above fifty years of age, in order that all might be 
enabled to support the rigor of the rule. 

Their order spread to several cities of Italy, in spite of persecutions 
which they had to endure on the part of evil-disposed persons. Bles- 
sed Peter died in Venice on June 1st, 1435. Some years after his death 
the religious of his order were admitted to the priesthood, and the 
order obtained several privileges from the Holy See. About the year 
1444 its original austerity was somewhat diminished, and its first con- 
stitutions were drawn up. Until the year 1568 the religious of this 
congregation took only simple vows, and consequently retained the 
proprietorship of their goods, but in that year Pius V. obliged them 
to bind themselves by a solemn profession and to take the rule of St. 
Augustin. Their order was then confirmed by the same Pope, and all 
the privileges of the Mendicant Friars were conferred upon them. 
Innocent X. was opposed to them, and forbade their receiving novices, 
but Alexander VII. revoked this prohibition. In 1695 certain hermits 
of Bavaria and Tyrol were united to the Order of Blessed Peter of 
Pisa. Their habit is brown. .It was in their church of St. Onuphrius 
in Rome, that the Italian poet, Torquato Tasso, author of the "Gern- 
salemme Liberata" was interred. 

Besides the hermits of Bavaria and Tyrol, several other congrega- 
tions were united to this order, such as those of Blessed Angelo 
of Corsica, Blessed Nicholas of Furca-Palena, the Hermits of St. 
Jerome of Brother Peter de Malerba, and the Hermits of Monte-Se- 
gestro. 

The congregation of Hermits of St. Jerome of Fiesoli, founded about 
the year 1360 by Blessed Charles of Montegraneli, was suppressed in 



THE JER ON Y MITE 8. 



331 



1668 by Pope Clement IX., who granted the priests and the lay-brothers 
that had belonged to it a yearly sum of money for their support. 

111. 

MONK-HERMITS OF ST. JEROME OF THE OBSERVANCE OR OF LOMBARDY. 

In the year 1370 was born at Olmedo, in the diocese of Avila in Spain, 
Lupo de Olmedo, who after receiving his education, entered the order 
of Jeronymites in the monastery of Our Lady of Guadelupe in the 
province of Estremadura. He was raised to the dignity of General of 
the order in 1422. Conceiving the plan of raising his order to a high- 
er state of perfection, and finding much opposition among his brethren, 
he retired for some time to a Carthusian monastery in order to learn 
from the exercises of its religious the spirit of the reform he had in 
view. In 1424 he went to Rome, where he was most kindly received 
by Martin V., his former fellow-student at Perugia. The Pope, at the 
request of the Jeronymites of Spain, would not interfere with their 
mode of life, but he granted Lupo de Olmedo permission to establish 
a congregation in the mountains of Cazalla in the diocese of Seville, 
under the title of Monk-Hermits of St. Jerome, at the same time 
appointing him General in perpetuity of that congregation, with ab- 
solute power over his religious. The new order was placed under 
the rule of St. Augustin. To this rule the founder added constitu- 
tions taken partly from those of the Carthusians. Strange to say, he 
forbade his monks to devote themselves to study. Truly the diversity 
of spirits in religious orders is wonderful. In some, learning and 
science are encouraged, while in others they are considered secondary, 
or even discouraged. Two men who have distinguished themselves 
as opponents of monastic studies, the abbot de Ranee, founder of the 
Trappists, and Lupo de Olmedo were nevertheless men of great learn- 
ing. The latter had been in his youth an ardent votary of studj^, 
which he continued to be after he had become a religious. 

Lupo de Olmedo, in order to render his religious more like unto 
the monks, gave them a monastic cowl, similar to that of the Benedic- 
tines, whfch they wear in choir and on leaving the monastery. Five 
other monasteries of this order were soon built on these mountains, 
so that their solitudes were turned into colonies of monks. In 1426 
they obtained a foundation in Rome and began to multiply in Italy. 
In 1429, with the approbation of the Sovereign Pontiff, they abandoned 
the rule of St. Augustin for one composed by the founder out of the 
writings of St. Jerome. Lupo de Olmedo died in his convent of St. 
Alexis in Rome on April 13, 1433. His life, especially in its latter 
years, had been one of great austerity. - 



332 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



In 1595 the monasteries of this order in Spain were united by Philip 
II. with that of the Jeronymite Hermits, but the congregation contin- 
ued to exist in Italy. After the death of its founder, it returned to 
the rule of St. Augustin. The statutes of the order forbade it to pos- 
sess a female branch. Studies were also introduced into the order 
after the founder's death. Its constitutions were approved by Paul 
V., in 161 1. 

THE ESCURIAL. 

It is impossible to treat of the Order of St. Jerome in Spain without 
finding our attention drawn to the Escurial, which was one of its prin- 
cipal monasteries in that Country, founded by Philip Ii. in honor of 
St. Lawrence, in fulfilment of a vow made during the battle of St. 
Quentin, which was fought on the feast of that saint, August 10, 1557. 
The first stone was laid April 23, 1563, by Juan Bautista de Toledo. 
The royal founder spent upon this edifice the sum of five million, two 
hundred and seventy thousand ducats in the building; itself ancf in 
works of art, and more than a million in the ornaments of the church. 
The edifice was destined to be a monastery, a palace, and a tomb. 
It was given to the monks of St. Jerome, and here Philip II. spent the 
last years of his life, here he died, and here his mortal remains still re- 
pose. At the time when Helyot wrote, it contained more than a hun- 
dred and twenty religious who enjoyed a revenue of more than forty 
thousand scuti. The devotion of the Perpetual Adoration was here 
practised, for night and day two religious were always in prayer before 
the Blessed Sacrament. The monks devoted themselves to the educa- 
tion of one hundred and eighty young ecclesiastics, to whom they taught 
the classics and philosophy, and who assisted at the Divine Office with 
the religious. Their library once contained more than a hundred 
thousand volumes, both in manuscript and in print, but in the year 
167 1 a portion of it was destroyed by fire. The Escurial became, and 
it has ever since remained, the burial place of the kings and queens of 
Spain. Philip II. occupied a suite of apartments in the monastery, 
and died in a little room near the sanctuary, from whence he could see 
the altar. In course of time a portion of this immense building was 
converted into a royal palace. 

The monks of St. Jerome left their monastery at the time of the 
sequestration of ecclesiastical property, and the Octava Mar civil la, the 
eighth wonder of the world" being left untenanted, was damaged 
to an enormous extent. It had already suffered greatly during the 
Napoleonic wars, when the French stripped it of much of its golden 



THE JER ONYMITES. 



333 



value. In 1842 the government began to check the progress of decay 
to which the building was exposed. The late king, Alfonso XII., 
who loved to retire to its palace, founded once more within its walls 
a college for Spanish youth, which he placed in charge of the Augus- 
tinian friars, who now occupy the monastery of the Escurial. 

It was a beautiful morning, worthy of sunny Spain, when we arrived 
at the railway station of Escurial, distant only a few miles from Mad- 
rid, which on a clear day is visible from the elevated terrace of the 
building. A short drive brought us to the world-renowned edifice. 
We carried with us a letter of introduction from the rector of the 
Scotch college of Valladolid to Father Rodrigo, a young Augustinian 
friar. Our reception at the monastery was all that could be desired, 
and the good Father devoted his entire day to our service, conducting 
us personally to all the places of interest. 

Enter with us, reader, into the gigantic pile which serves as a dwel- 
ling place for the living, and a resting-place for the dead. The edifice, 
a rectangular parallelogram, built chiefly in the Doric order, is about 
744 feet long and 580 feet wide, covering an area of 500,000 feet. It 
contains 88 fountains, 15 cloisters, 86 staircases, 16 court-yards, and 
3,000 feet of painted fresco. The first court you enter, passing through 
the grand central portal, is that of the kings, thus called from the stat- 
ues of several kings of Judah. Cross this court and you find yourself 
at the entrance of the church, which is 320 feet long and 230 wide. 
The dark ante-chapel into which you first enter is a masterpiece of archi- 
tecture, its flat roof, without any central column, supporting the en- 
tire weight of the choir. Eight of the compartments of the vaulted 
roof are painted in fresco by Luca Giordano. A flight of steps leads 
up to the high altar which is magnificently decorated with painting 
and sculpture. The church contains more than forty altars. Much 
of its former splendor has vanished, for a wealth of gold and 
silver was taken from it by the French. To the left of the 
sanctuary, in a small side-chapel, is the tomb of Dofia Mercedes, 
first wife of Alfonso XII. To the right, a door gives entrance 
to the pantheon, the burial-place of the kings and queens of Spain. 
Here, around the walls are the coffins of the Spanish monarchs from 
Charles V. to the late King Alfonso. Here, too, among many others, 
sleeps Philip II., the founder of the Escurial. In the rear of the Pan- 
theon another burial-place invites your attention. It is called the 
Panteon de los Infantes. In this abode of the dead you will observe the 
beautiful tomb of the hero of Lepanto, Don Juan of Austria, and the 
splendid mausoleum of the family of Montpensier. 

The sacristy contains a number of beautiful paintings, and, what is 



334 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



more remarkable, the miraculous Host, preserved through more than 
three centuries, which bled at Gorcum in Holland when trampled upon 
by the Protestants. It is exposed twice a year to the veneration of 
the faithful: on September 29 and on October 28. 

From the sacristy, a door leads to the large cloister, built around the 
court-yard, called Patio de los Evangclistas, from the statues of the Evan- 
gelists. To the south are situated the chapter-rooms, with paintings 
of great masters of the Spanish and Italian schools, such as Bosch, Tin- 
toretto, Titian, El Greco, Paul Veronese, Velasquez, and Ribera. A 
large staircase, painted in fresco by Cangiagi, Luca Giordano, and 
Pellegrino, leads to an upper cloister. Here are the halls of Theology, 
where the monks once met for the discussion of various points of doc- 
trine. Hence you pass to the coro or choir, where the Divine Office was 
once recited by the Jeronymites, and to the present day by the Au- 
gustinian friars. Its stalls are carved in the Corinthian order out of 
different kinds of wood. A light touch suffices to move the enormous 
lectern on w T hich the large books rest. Two hundred and eighteen of 
these immense volumes are preserved in the choir. A little door com- 
municates with the interior of the Escurial, and it was through this 
that Philip II. was wont to enter, in order to join in the Divine Office. 
The seat he occupied when the news of the victory of Lepanto was 
brought to him is still shown. 

The great library is an arched room, beautifully decorated. The 
books have their edges turned outward. The palace, comparatively 
modern, occupies a wing of the building. It was arranged by later 
sovereigns. 

Finally, the humble apartments occupied by Philip II. during the 
last years of his life remain to be visited. They contain his chair, his 
desk,. and other objects appertaining to him. Here he received the 
foreign ambassadors, and here, in a little room, whence he could see 
the altar, he died on Sept. 30th, 1398. By a singular coincidence, this 
was the identical date of our visit to the Escurial, it being also the 
feast of St. Jerome. 

Philip II. is one of those historical characters who have been viewed 
from various standpoints. Like the double shield, he has appeared 
gold to some and brass to others, while the knight errants of history 
fight among themselves over his memory. He has had his friends and 
his enemies, and on both sides much has been written. It remains for 
our age, now that passions are subsiding, and prejudices begin to van- 
ish, to scrutinize with an impartial eye the acts of his life, and especially 
its closing scenes which have formed the subject of such varied reports. 
Jose Fernandez Montana, once librarian of the Escurial, has lately given 



THE JER ONY MITES, 



335 



us an interesting work entitled: " Mas Luz de Verdad Historica sobre 
Felipe II." — "More Light of Historic Truth on Philip II.," a work which 
deserves to be studied by those concerned in these important ques- 
tions. 



THE jESUATES. 



UNTIL the year 1668 there existed in Italy an order which bore 
the title of Apostolic Clerics, or Jesuates of St. Jerome. It was 
founded in 1365 by Saint John Colombini, a native of Sienna. The 
early part of his life was not that of a saint. His distinguished birth 
had caused him to rise to the highest dignities of the state. In these 
he seemed to se"ek only the satisfaction of his avarice, and he made use 
of all means, both just and unjust, to increase his wealth. Returning 
home on a certain day, and not finding his dinner prepared, he fell into 
a rage with his cook, and even with his wife. The latter endeavored 
to pacify him, and, in order to occupy his mind while the meal was 
being prepared, she placed into his hands the Lives of the Saints. John, 
however, in his anger, threw the book on the floor. His wife then 
went out without saying a word, and, finding himself alone, he took up 
the book, and opened it at the life of St. Mary of Egypt. He became 
interested, and, continuing to read, forgot all about his dinner. What he 
read produced a wonderful effect upon him, and the reflection it caused 
wrought an entire change of heart within him. He now became gen- 
erous towardsthe poor, began to practise great mortifications, and even 
proposed to his wife to lead a life of absolute continence. Though 
still young, she was already schooled in virtue, and she easily agreed 
to the proposal. Henceforward they lived only as brother and sister. 
After this, John constantly advanced in virtue. He clad himself in 
poor garments, and turned his house into an hospital, with little regard 
for the opinions of the world. A friend of his, also of Sienna, Fran- 
cesco Mino Vincenti, associated himself with John in these works of 
charity and virtue. Some time later, John, having made provision for 
the support of his wife, distributed all his goods to the poor. Francis 
donated his fortune to the monastery of nuns of St. Abundius, in which 
both he and John had placed their young daughters, under the condi- 
tion that the abbess should admit without dowry six poor } r oung wom- 
en into her community. 

The two servants of God now began to live entirely on alms, 
which they begged from door to door. Is it not here the place to ex- 
claim : O ineffable mystery of the force of divine love ! From rich 
they had voluntarily become poor, from distinguished men of the 



THE JE8 UA TES. 



337 



world they had gone down to pauperism for the love of Christ. No ! the 
world will never understand these heroic acts, nor solve this mystery, 
which is the folly of the cross. No wonder, therefore, that by many 
they were regarded as fools. Nevertheless their conduct had a bene- 
ficial effect on others, for some, touched by their example, entered re- 
ligious orders, some began to lead exemplary lives in their own houses, 
while others finally joined them and became their associates. It was 
in the year 1365 that they began to have companions. Like the mem- 
bers of a certain modern society, they went through the streets sing- 
ing hymns, while the name of Jesus was constantly on their lips, and 
they continually exhorted sinners to repentance. Those who de- 
sired to enter their society were first subjected to rude trials. Fre- 
quently they conducted the novice through the streets with a crown 
of olive leaves upon his head, and mounted on an ass, sometimes with 
his face turned towards the tail, while those who accompanied him 
were also crowned with olive leaves, and carried branches in their 
hands, incessantly crying : Live Jesus Christ! praised be Jesus 
Christ! Sometimes they would strip the novice to the waist, bind his 
hands behind his back, load him with injuries, and beg the people 
to pray for such a miserable sinner. We must confess that for us, 
descendants of the colder type of Europeans, this manifestation 
of Italian enthusiasm appears in a somewhat ridiculous light ; but let 
us remember that one of the great lessons which the philosophy of 
history teaches us is never to judge of epochs and countries by 
those in which we are actually living. Notwithstanding the rude 
trials to which he subjected the new comers into his society, in less 
than two years St. John Colombini found himself surrounded by no 
less than seventy disciples, some of whom had belonged to high places 
in the world. The saint, as we learn from his life, treated himself no 
better than those who had placed themselves under his direction. 

The method the holy founder made use of to obtain the approba- 
tion of the Sovereign Pontiff was a very singular one. Pope Urban V. 
was travelling from Avignon to Rome. The saint and a number of his 
disciples awaited his arrival at Viterbo, and, hearing that he was 
to disembark at Corneto, thither they went and placed themselves 
at the landing, with olive crowns on their heads, and branches in 
their hands. No sooner had the Pope landed than he was greeted 
with their exclamations in the Italian of the period of " Lodato sia 
Giesu Cristo et viva il santissimo Padre" — " Praised be Jesus Christ and 
live the Holy Father." Hearing what they wanted, the Pope received 
them favorably, and they accompanied him to Viterbo. Here certain 
persons accused them of being tainted with the errors of the Frat- 



338 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



icelli, an heretical sect. Upon this the Pope commissioned Cardinal 
William Sudre to examine their doctrine. Their innocence having 
come to light, the Sovereign Pontiff approved their institution in 1367, 
and prescribed the habit he wished them to wear, which was to consist 
of a white tunic bound at the waist by a leathern girdle. He also or- 
dered them to wear wooden sandals. The Holy Father himself in- 
vested them with this habit. Their rule was drawn up for them by 
Blessed John of Fossignano, who became Bishop of Ferrarain 143 1. 
They nevertheless afterwards adopted the rule of St. Augustin. 

The name of Jesuates was given to these religious because the name 
of Jesus was constantly on their lips. In the beginning of their order 
they evinced a great devotion to St. Jerome, in whose honor most of 
their churches were dedicated. This was probably the reason why, 
many years later, in 1492 namely, Alexander Vf. decreed that they 
should no longer be named simply Jesuates, but that they should bear the 
title of Jesuates of St. Jerome. He at the same time ordained that no 
religious congregation should ever dedicate a church to St. Jerome 
in a place where the Jesuates already possessed one under the invo- 
cation of that saint, and that no church should be allowed to carry the 
banner of St. Jerome in a procession at which the Jesuates had a 
right to assist. The name of Apostolic Clerics was also conferred 
upon these religious on account of the apostolic life they led. Their 
founder, St. John Colombini, died shortly after the confirmation of 
his order, on the last day of July, 1367. After his canonization, his 
feast-day became a holy day of obligation in Sienna. This order in- 
creased under the administration of his successors, and Pius V. placed 
it among the mendicant orders, with a general communication in their 
privileges. 

During two centuries the Jesuates were all lay-brothers, but in 1606 
Paul V. permitted them to be ordained priests. Besides other occu- 
pations, they applied themselves in most of their houses to pharmacy, 
and distributed medicines gratuitously to the poor. Their constitu- 
tions obliged them to spend five or six hours of the day in prayer. 
Every morning their Superior delivered an exhortation to them. 
Morning and evening they took the discipline, besides many other 
acts of mortification which they were obliged to practise. During 
the hours left free from the exercises of religion, they devoted them- 
selves to manual labor, or attended to the sick in the hospitals. 

In the republic of Venice they had acquired great wealth, and this 
became the cause of their extinction, for, in order to profit by their 
goods, the republic requested Clement IX. to suppress them. The peti- 
tion was granted in 1668, and the Order of Jesuates, together with 



THE JESUATE8. 



339 



those of St. George in Algha, and of St. Jerome of Fiesole, was sup- 
pressed, a sum of money being granted to the priests and the lay- 
brothers for their support. Their General became parish priest of the 
Church of St. John of Malva in Rome. 

The order gave to the Church many men distinguished by their 
sanctity and their learning. It had at least one establishment outside 
of Italy, at Toulouse, in France. 

The monasteries of Jesuate nuns were not included in the Bull of sup- 
pression, and they consequently continued to exist. They had been 
founded by St. John Colombini about the year 1367, with the aid of 
his cousin, Blessed Catherine Colombini. They supported them- 
selves by the labor of their hands, and their life was one of great aus- 
terity. Blessed Catherine Cojombini died on October 20th, 1387. 
The habit of these nuns resembled that of the Jesuates. 



HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN OF GOD. 



HE religious of this order have been variously styled, according- 



to the different countries they have inhabited. Thus in Spain, 
the country of their origin, they were called Brothers of Hospitality, 
while in Italy they went by the name of " Fate Ben Fratelli" — Do good 
Brothers, because it was with these words that they had been accustomed 
to beg alms for the sick. In France they were known as Brothers of 
Charity. The name, however, to which they have a right, and which 
was given to them by Pope Sixtus V., is that of Congregation of St. 
John of God. 

The founder of this order was born in Portugal, at Monte-Major-o- 
Novo, on March 8, 1495. At the age of nine he fled from home, 
actuated by the desire of seeing Madrid, an account of the churches 
of which had excited his admiration and CLiriosity. Finding himself 
alone in a strange country, he entered the service of a shepherd, with 
whom he remained for some time, to the great advantage of his mas- 
ter. The latter wishing to mari-y him to his daughter, John abandoned 
his service and enlisted among the troops of the Emperor Charles 
V., in a company of infantry organized by Don Juan Feruz. His new 
surroLindings had an injurious effect upon him, causing him to neglect 
his exercises of piety and to lapse into the mode of life of his comrades. 
Losing the fear of God, he began to be ashamed of appearing better 
than the rest of the soldiers. An unforeseen accident brought him to 
a sense of the danger to which his soul was exposed. Being sent one 
day on a foraging expedition, he was thrown from his horse and he 
lay for some time speechless. Returning to his senses, and finding 
himself in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, he invoked 
the assistance of the Blessed Virgin. Growing stronger after this 
prayer, he began to consider the accident as a punishment for his sins. 
Having returned to the camp, he resolved to amend his life. Soon 
after this he was falsely accused of theft, but, at the intercession of 
certain influential persons, he obtained his pardon on condition that 
he would renounce the military profession. He now returned to his 
old master, who received him with great kindness, but, being a second 
time importuned to accept his daughter in marriage, he once more 
left him and entered the service of the Emperor, believing that the 




BROTHERS OF ST. JOHN OF GOD 



HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN OF GOD. 



341 



war in which he was engaged against the Turks was a holy war, and 
hoping to find something to suffer for Christ's sake. This time his 
virtue was proof against seduction, and he conducted himself with 
great edification. 

After the war he returned to Portugal with the intention of visit- 
ing his parents. Finding that they were both dead, and hearing that 
his flight from home had caused the death of his mother and broken up 
his family, he resolved to leave his country in order to serve God else- 
where. Having gone to Seville, he became a shepherd in the service 
of a wealthy lady of that territory. Wishing soon after to please God 
more, he crossed over to Africa in hopes of finding a martyr's crown. 
At Ceuta he was advised by his confessor to return to Spain. H e landed 
at Gibraltar, and began to sell pictures and devotional books. From 
here he went to Granada, where he established a shop. A sermon 
of the celebrated John of Avila, at that time the most renowned 
preacher in Spain, affected him to such an extent that he began 
to cry out loudly in the church, and ran like one wild through the 
streets, exclaiming: "Mercy" Being taken for an insane man, the 
populace ran after him, pelting him with stones. The following 
day he was conducted to the preacher whose discourse had pro- 
duced this extraordinary effect upon him, and the latter, having 
heard his confession, recognized in him the working of God's spirit, 
and discovered that he had feigned insanity in order to draw humil- 
iations upon himself. John of Avila encouraged him in his resolu- 
tions, and he, believing that he could not humble himself enough, con- 
tinued to act the part of the fool. Hereupon he was locked up in a 
lunatic asylum. Various remedies being unsuccessfully tried upon 
him, one was resorted to which gives us an insight into the treatment 
to which the insane in those days must have been subjected. It was 
believed that the most efficacious means to cause his return to his 
senses was to beat him cruelly day after day. Not only did he en- 
dure ail this with patience, but he even went so far as to irritate his 
persecutors in order that they should treat him more cruelly. This 
process brought him to the brink of the tomb. 

John of Avila, being informed of what was happening, paid him a 
visit, and advised him to put an end to his extravagance and to apply 
himself henceforth to acts more useful to himself and to his neighbor. 
He obeyed, and the directors of the hospital were surprised at the sud- 
den change which took place within him. They now began to treat 
him with great care, so that he soon recovered his health. He remained 
for some time in the hospital attending the sick, but left it in 1539, to 
put into execution a vow he had taken of serving God in the person of 



342 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the poor. After returning from a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guada- 
lupe, he began to cut wood in the forest, in order to sell it for the main- 
tenance of certain poor persons. His example and his exhortations exer- 
cised such influence on others, that with the aid of charitable persons he 
was enabled in 1 540, to rent a house for the sick poor. This was the be- 
ginning of the hospital of Granada, and, in fact, of his order. Having 
furnished his house, he went through the city to look for the sick, the 
lame, and the disabled in order to fill it. Many blamed him and ac- 
cused him of undertaking a foolhardy enterprise, but his charity and un- 
daunted perseverance became the answer to all their objections. John 
continued to attend to the bodily and spiritual welfare of his poor clients, 
and went through the streets begging for them, and crying out : " My 
brethren, do good for the love of God." The Archbishop of Grana- 
da, Don Pedro Guerrero, having examined into his proceedings, was so 
touched that he contributed largely towards the new hospital, and his 
example was followed by many other inhabitants of the city. The 
approbation of the Archbishop naturally gave great credit to the in- 
stitution, and it flourished to such an extent that its founder was soon 
obliged to rent a more spacious house. Everything within it, its 
cleanliness, its regularity, and the conduct of its attendants, were ad- 
mirable, so that people marvelled that a man with so few means 
at his disposal had been able to effect such a beautiful establish- 
ment. 

St. John of God himself sought nothing but God's glory ; his own 
clothes were extremely poor, and if he found a poor man more mean- 
ly clad than himself, he would exchange garments with him. Notwith- 
standing this debased exterior, his company was sought after by many. 
On a certain day, being the guest at dinner of the Bishop of Tuy, pres- 
ident of the royal chamber of Granada, he was asked by the prelate 
what his name was. He replied that he was called John. " Hence- 
forward," rejoined the Bishop, " you will call yourself John of God." 
Since that day he retained this surname. The same Bishop also told 
him that he would give him a habit, as the clothes he wore could only 
keep aloof from him persons of respectability. He clad the saint with 
the new habit of which he had prescribed the form, and told him to 
give a similar one to those who in future should join in his good work. 
This habit seems to have drawn disciples around the saint. His first 
companions were Anthony Martin and Peter Velasco, who from mor- 
tal enemies had become friends through his instrumentality. With 
the aid of the Archbishop of Granada and of the most prominent citi- 
zens, the saint was soon enabled to buy a large house for a hospital. 
At the court at Valladolid, he was favorably received by the prince, 



HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN OF GOD. 



343 



afterwards Philip II., who together with the lords of his court, aided 
him liberally. 

The charity of St. John of God knew no bounds. Not only did he 
minister to the wants of those who were actually in his hospital, but he 
succored the poor who were ashamed to make their poverty known, 
and drew many women from a life of infamy. The exercise of his char- 
ity was the cause of his death. Going into a torrent to obtain water 
for the use of his hospital, he caught a disease which increased when 
he threw himself into the river to rescue a drowning man. This 
sickness terminated in his death, which occurred on his birthday, March 
8th, 1550. Thus ended an eventful life which, towards its close, had 
been one of heroic charity. St. John of God has left behind him an 
institution to perpetuate the memory of his name, and it is the history 
of this institution which we here present to our readers. 

St. John of God had given to his disciples no other rule but his ex- 
ample and the method he prescribed for the corporal and spiritual 
assistance of the sick. After his death they obeyed a Superior, to whom 
they gave the title of Major. The first to fill this office was Anthony 
Martin, who persuaded Philip II. to build an hospital at Madrid, similar 
to that of Granada. Several other hospitals of the same nature were 
soon established. After the death of Anthony Martin, Siguenza be- 
came Superior of the hospital of Granada, and his reputation was so 
great that the communities of the other hospitals desired to be united to 
his. He received them and thus formed these into one society. The 
next step to be taken was to obtain the approbation of the Sovereign 
Pontiff. In this they succeeded, partly through the influence of Don 
Juan of Austria, who had just returned from his famous victory of Le- 
panto. Pius V. approved the order in 1572, giving to the religious the 
rule of St. Augustin, and prescribing the form of their habit. He at 
the same time permitted them to promote one of their number in each 
hospital to the priesthood, and decreed that they should be subject to 
the jurisdiction of the diocesan Bishops. Shortly after this approbation 
of their institute the brethren founded two hospitals in Italy, one at 
Naples and the other at Milan. The order was confirmed by Gregory 
XIII., and, in 1586, Sixtus V. permitted its members to hold a general 
chapter in Rome, and draw up constitutions. He then established 
their order under the title of Congregation of John of God. 

Things went on smoothly in the order until Clement VIII. began to 
discover that in some places it had grown relaxed, and that its members, 
dreaming only of becoming priests, applied themselves to study, and 
neglected the care of the sick. As they had begun, in virtue of certain 
communication of privileges, to aspire to that of exemption from the 



344 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



jurisdiction of the ordinaries, the Pope subjected them entirely to the 
jurisdiction of the diocesan Bishops, and forbade them to receive 
Holy Orders, and to take solemn vows. He allowed them to take only 
the vows of poverty and hospitality. However, the same pontiff modi- 
fied his decision, and, in 1596, permitted them to elect a General. 

Paul V., about the year 1609, again permitted them to raise a certain 
number of their members to the priesthood for the service of the sick. 
He also modified the Bull of Clement VIII. regarding the vows, and 
permitted them to take those of poverty, chastity, and obedience, with 
the fourth vow by which they bound themselves to serve the sick, de- 
claring them, at the same time, to be truly religious. In Spain the 
Bull of Clement VIII. had not been executed, and they had always 
continued to take those vows. This permission of Paul V. was granted 
separately for Spain and for the other provinces. In 1619, the same 
pontiff exempted them from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, but this 
exemption was modified by Urban VIII., who declared that the Bishops 
had the right of visiting those hospitals in which there were less than 
twelve religious. After the decrees of Clement VIII. in 1592, the 
religious of Spain separated from those of the other provinces, and 
two Generals were elected. The General of Spain was also Superior 
of the order in the dependencies of that country, such as Peru, Mexi- 
co, and the Philippine Islands. In the seventeenth century the relig- 
ious of the order in France possessed establishments in the West Indies, 
in the Island of Guadalupe, and in that of St. Christopher. 

Their constitutions were finally approved by Paul V., in 16 17. In 
virtue of these they devote themselves to various spiritual exercises 
and acts of austerity, more like those of the modern orders than of the 
ancient monastic institutions. Every six years they hold a general 
chapter, in which they elect their Major- General. The provinces 
elect their Superiors in provincial chapters. Their habit consists of 
a brown tunic, girded by a leathern cincture. They also wear a brown 
scapular and hood. 

The order has continued until our own days to render immense ser- 
vice to the Church and the world at large by its faithful attendance 
on the sick. It possesses a foundation in Ireland, in the diocese of Dub- 
lin, and one in Canada, in that of Montreal. 



BETHLEEMITES. 



HE orders which have thus far occupied our attention, had all 



their origin in the Old, the one we are now called upon to treat 
of was born upon the shores of the New World. Its founder, Peter 
de Betancourt, first saw the light in 1619, in the town of Villaflora, on 
the island of Teneriffe, one of the Canaries. He was a descendant of 
John de Betancourt the Frenchman from Normandy, who, commis- 
sioned by Henry III., king of Spain, had taken possession of the great- 
er part of those islands. The parents of Peter de Betancourt were 
Amador de Betancourt Gonzalez de la Rosa, and Anna Garria. They 
did not educate their child in the knowledge of human letters, but de- 
voted all their attention towards forming his heart to piety and virtue. 
From his tenderest years he showed his inclination for penance and 
austerity, and at the age of five began to fast several days in the week. 
As he advanced in years this inclination grew stronger, and at a later 
period he fasted four days of the week, on bread and water, and fin- 
ally he abstained from all nourishment three days before the feasts of 
the Blessed Virgin, of St. Joseph, St. Michael, and St. Francis. Be- 
ing driven by an inspiration to leave his country and his parents, he 
undertook a voyage to the West Indies, having first made a general 
confession and consulted one of his aunts, who foreseeing that his pro- 
ject would result to the glory of God, counselled him not to delay its 
execution. He consequently embarked in 1650, at the age of thirty- 
three, and the following year arrived at Guatemala, capital of the 
province of that name in New Spain. After a short sojourn in this 
city, he conceived the desire of becoming a priest in order to conse- 
crate himself to the work of the missions in Japan, where he hoped to 
obtain a martyr's crown. Being ignorant of Latin, like St. Ignatius 
de Loyola, laying aside all shame, he undertook to learn it, though 
advanced in age. For this purpose he went every day to the college 
of the Society of Jesus in order to initiate himself in its elements. 
But all his efforts were in vain, for in spite of arduous study during 
three years, he could learn nothing. Losing all hope of advancing in 
his studies, he left Guatemala and went to Petapa, at a distance of 
eighteen miles, with the intention of retiring into solitude. Here the 
devil assaulted him with temptations of sensuality, but having recourse 




346 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



to God, he was freed from the temptation. Hereupon he returned to 
Guatemala and related to his director what had occurred. The Priest 
advised him to abandon study, as it was evident that God did not de- 
sire it of him, but at the same time he counselled him to remain in the 
city. Peter followed the advice, took up his abode in Guatemala, and 
in order to avoid idleness he opened a tailor-shop in which he put him- 
self to the task of mending clothes. His devotion to the Blessed Vir- 
gin caused him soon after to become sacristan in a church dedicated 
to her. His piety in assisting at Mass became a source of edification 
to all present. One day during the elevation, remembering that he was 
in possession of twenty pieces of money, and this thought having 
caused him a feeling of pleasure, he immediately after Mass, returned 
home and distributed all he had, his money, his furniture, and even 
the shirt he wore, to the poor. 

In 1655 he became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and 
took up his abode in a remote corner of the city called Calvary, where, 
seeing that the children were not instructed in the mysteries of t'hei 
religion, he opened a school in which he taught them gratuitously to 
read and their catechism. Not long after he conceived the design of 
building a hospital for poor convalescents. The house in which h 
kept school belonged to an old wonan who died about that time. I 
was bought by two citizens of the place and presented to him. Her 
he laid the foundations of his hospital, and built beside it an infirmar 
covered with straw. The first person he received into it was 
decrepit negress, whom he carried on his shoulders to the asylum h 
had prepared, and treated with the greatest charity until her death 
which occurred some time after. 

He obtained of the Bishop and the Governor the necessary au 
thorization for this establishment, and several persons began to con 
tribute towards it. Other houses were bought near the little one tha 
had been given to Peter, and the foundations were laid for a spaciou 
hospital. The founder himself labored with his own hands, carryin & 
material for the building, without at the same time interrupting hi 
exercises of piety and charity. Within a short time a spacious hal 
was built and provided with beds and all that was necessary for th 
sick. Whilp constructing this edifice, Peter de Betancourt must hav 
contemplated the establishment of a society, for together with th 
sick-ward, a cloister, dormitory, refectory, and oratory were also pre 
pared. The hospital was dedicated to Our Lady of Bethlehem. Pete 
having been joined by some disciples, the society to which he gav 
rise assumed as its name the title of The Hospital. 

The instruction of children still remained an object of solicitude fo 



BETHLEEM1 TES. 



347 



the founder, and in order to devote himself to this task he estab- 
lished a school in his hospital. Not content with attending to the in- 
mates of his own institution, he also rendered service to other hospit- 
als, and every day carried refreshments to the infirm within the walls 
of those of St. Lazarus and St. Alexis, although they were more than 
two miles away from his own. Every Thursday he was accustomed to 
go through the city to collect alms for the prisoners, to whom he after- 
wards brought the consolation of his presence. His charity extended 
itself to the dead, for he founded two hermitages near the principal 
gates of the city, and placed within them Brothers of his community, 
who collected money to have Masses said for the repose of the souls 
in Purgatory. Every night he passed through the streets ringing a 
bell, to remind the faithful to pray for the repose of the departed. 

While thus laboring incessantly for the sake of others, he treated 
himself with the utmost rigor. Such, indeed, is the spirit of the saints. 
Did we but imitate their example, how much happier the world would 
be ! This holy man wore under his clothes a garment made of matting, 
interwoven with notted cords, and tied around with a rope. The dis- 
cipline was for him a daily exercise, and besides his fasts already men- 
tioned, in Lent his food consisted only of bread and water. He ate 
nothing from Tuesday in Holy Week until the following Saturday, and 
on those days his disciplines were doubled. On Holy Thursday and 
Good Friday he moved oh his knees to a place called Calvary, bearing 
on his shoulders a largre cross. His room was so small that he could 
only kneel in it, and, in this position, he slept on]y a few hours. 

His devotion towards the Blessed Virgin caused him to recite the 
rosary in her honor, with his arms extended in the form of a cross, on 
the first Sunday of every month, and he obliged the brethren of hishos- 
pital to say the rosary at midnight during the nine days preceding the 
feast of Candlemas. He also instituted several other practices of de- 
votion towards the Blessed Virgin, and bound himself by vow, in 1654, 
to defend the belief in the Immaculate Conception, even at the peril 
of his life. This vow he renewed every year until his death. He had 
also a great devotion toward St. Joseph, whose name he assumed after 
the establishment of his congregation. 

At last the moment of recompense arrived. In April, 1667, he was 
attacked by a disease of the chest, but he diminished nothing of his 
austerities, even continuing to go out at night to recommend the souls 
of Purgatory. He was finally, however, forced to take to his bed, but 
as the disease had gained strength, it was too late. He died on April 
25th of the same year, at the age of forty-eight. No sooner did the 
rumor of his death spread throughout the city than a large concourse 



348 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of people flocked to the hospital to behold for the last time the body 
of the servant of God. Some kissed his feet, and others cut off por- 
tions of his garments to keep as relics. The Bishop and his chapter, 
with the civil authorities, came also to pay their last tribute to the 
worth of the deceased. He had wished to be buried in a church of the 
Third Order of St. Francis, but his body was granted, at their request, 
to the Provincial and the religious of the First Order. The corpse was 
brought to their church the day after his death, by the president and 
members of the Royal Council, and the consul of the city, accompanied 
by religious of all the different orders. Nine days afterwards his obse- 
quies wereagain held, as though they had been thoseof a prince, and the 
Franciscan, Alfonso Velasquez, delivered the funeral oration. Thus 
ended the life of one whom we may call an American saint, for though 
he was born on the islands of the African coast, the best part of his life 
and his labors were given to the New World. 

Some time before his death he had sent one of his brethren, Anthony of 
the Cross, toSpain, to obtain from thekingthe confirmation of hishospital, 
but the letters-patent of his Catholic majesty did not arrive in Guatemala 
until May 2d, eight days after the death of the founder. They contained 
an order to the presidentof the council to protect the hospital and con- 
tribute towards its increase. A similar message was sent to the Bishop, 
who hereupon granted permission to the Bethleemite brethren to have a 
public church in whichMass and the Divine Office might be celebrated. 
The inhabitants of the city contributed liberally towards the construc- 
tion of the church. 

Peter de Betancourt had appointed Anthony of the Cross, the same 
whom he had sent to Spain, as his successor in the government of the 
congregation, and he had advised him to bring it to a regular and 
monastic state, and prepare constitutions. Acting in the spirit of the 
founder, Anthony drew up the constitutions, but upon his desiring to 
obtain for them the approbation of the Bishop, the Franciscans opposed 
him. Their plea was that these hospitallers, being members of their 
Third Order, should observe the rule given by St. Francis, and that while 
wearing the habit of that order, they had no right to make other con. 
stitutions. A short time after, the Franciscan provincial, having come 
to Guatemala, advised the Superior of theBethleemites to change their 
habit, and he spoke in their favor to the Bishop, who, after this change, 
approved their constitutions. With this ended the opposition of the 
Franciscans. 

Desiring to celebrate the anniversary of the death of their founder 
with great pomp, some of the brethren wished to collect money in the 
city for that purpose, but their Superior deemed it unworthy of them 



BETHLEE MITES. 



349 



to ask alms for such an end. However, when they least expected it, 
several persons offered to bear the expenses. The 18th of May, 1668, 
the anniversary was celebrated with great solemnity in presence of 
the regular and secular clergy and the civil authorities. 

In the same year the Superior conceived the design of instituting 
an affiliated congregation of women, to attend to persons of their sex. 
While meditating the plan, a noble lady called Mary-Ann del Galdo 
called on him and told him that after the death of her husband she 
had taken the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, and that she de- 
sired to have a small dwelling near the hospital, in order to render 
service to the sick, at least by washing and mending their clothing. 
Seeing the good will of this person, Anthony of the Cross built a hos- 
pital for women near that of Bethlehem, and Mary-Ann, together with 
her mother, Augustina del Galdo, and other ladies, to the number of 
twelve, devoted themselves in it to the care of the sick. They adopt- 
ed a habit similar to that of the Brothers, and they were also called 
Sisters Bethleemites. The Bishop approved this establishment, which 
was afterwards confirmed by the Holy See. 

The following year the Superior sent two of his brethren to Peru 
with a letter of recommendation to the viceroy, the Count of Lemos, 
requesting his protection. They were favorably received, and as doc- 
tor Antonio de Abila was building a hospital at Lima to be dedicated to 
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, it was placed in charge of the Bethlee- 
mite Brothers, who united it to their congregation, and established in 
it a public school for children, as was the case in their hospital of Gua- 
temala. This hospital became afterwards the most celebrated and 
most magnificent one in South America. In 1672 Brother Rodrigo of 
the Cross went to Spain to obtain its confirmation, and for other affairs 
connected with his congregation. He had difficulties to surmount, 
but, by the influence of the Countess de Abero, he succeeded in his 
endeavors. The same lady also gave him letters of recommendation 
for Rome, and used her influence to aid him in obtaining the confir- 
mation of his institute and of the constitutions made by Anthony of 
the Cross. It was granted by Clement X. in 1673. 

After the return to Guatemala of Brother Rodrigo, his brethren 
founded a new hospital under the title of St. Francis Xavier in the 
city of Mexico, and Brother Rodrigo established three others at Cha- 
capoya, Caramarca, and Truxillo, to each of which a school was at- 
tached, according to the intentions of the founder. He returned to 
Spain in 1681 with several companions, and obtained from the coun- 
cil of the Indies a subsidy for the hospital at Lima, and the confirma- 
tion of the others that had since been founded. Wishing to go to Rome 



350 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



in order to obtain from the Holy See the erection of his congregation 
into a religious order, he requested letters from the same council for 
the ambassador of Spain, but they were refused tohim, and he was order- 
ed to return immediately to America. However, the queen oi Spain, 
Anne of Austria, took the brethren under her protection, and gave to 
Brother Rodrigo letters of recommendation to Innocent XL The pontiff 
granted him the indulgences and graces he asked for, but when he 
spoke of withdrawing his congregation from the jurisdiction of the or- 
dinaries and having it governed by a General, he found no hearing. 
Nothing daunted, he sojourned for a long time in Rome, repeated- 
ly renewing his request to the Pope and the Congregation of Reg- 
ulars. Finally, through the influence of Cardinal Mellini, who had 
been nuntius in Spain, the Pope, by a Bull of March 26, 1687, permit- 
ted the Bethleemites to take solemn vows under the rule of St. Au- 
gustin, to have a General, and to partake of all the privileges of the Or- 
der of St. Augustin. According to the wish of the Sovereign Pontiff, 
Brother Rodrigo was the first to take the vows, which he pronounced 
before Cardinal Carpegna, the vicar, on May 7th. Besides the three 
ordinary vows, he bound himself to practise hospitality and to serve 
poor convalescents, even infidels and those laboring under a contagious 
disease. His companions took the same vows, and Clement XI. con- 
firmed the congregation in 1707 by a Bull of July 27, granting to it 
the privileges of the Mendicant orders, and those of the Congregation 
of the Regular Clerics Servants of the Sick and of the Hospitallers of 
Charity of St. Hippolytus. 

The habit adopted by the Bethleemites was similar to that of the 
Capuchins, with the exception that they wore hats, a leathern girdle, 
and, on their mantle, a representation of the Birth of Christ. The 
nuns of the order wore the same habit, and observed the cloister. 
They also bound themselves by vows, and their Superior bore the 
title of Sister-Major. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE MENDICANT ORDERS. 



IT J HEN the Mendicants began their workin the Church of God, they 
VV found three classes of orders already in existence: the monks, 
the regular canons, and the military orders. The first of these were 
the oldest religious. They traced their origin to St. Anthony and St. 
Pachomius in the desert, to the Therapeutae of Egypt, or, perhaps, even 
to Elias in the Old Testament. Their object was a purely contempla- 
tive one, though they accidentally, as it were, labored for their neigh- 
bor's salvation. The members of these orders were persons who fled 
from the seductions of the world to live in closer communion with God, 
or to do penance for their sins. They mingled little with the world, 
if at all, as solitude was one of their most important rules. In the be- 
ginning of their institution, if a monk left his solitude to work at his 
neighbor's salvation, he generally went on some special mission, after 
the accomplishment of which he returned to his desert or monastery, 
but, as, in course of time, the number of priests increased among them, 
they began to go forth on extended missions for the conversion of na- 
tions to the faith, or even performed the work of the clergy, as, for 
instance, in England where many of the cathedrals were served by 
Benedictine monks. However, these works were, though in accor- 
dance with the spirit of their rule, yet beyond what it prescribed and 
what it had anticipated. 

The regular canons, on the contrary, were essentially ecclesias- 
tics, and, in virtue of their calling, they were devoted to their neigh- 
bor's salvation. Theirwork, however, belonged totheordinary ministry 
of the Church. They performed the divine offices in cathedral and 
collegial churches, and they attended to the administration of parishes. 
Their work was of a more stationary character; as a rule, they were 
not missionaries. Until the thirteenth century we find no missionaries, 
in the ordinary sense of the word, among the Christian people. The 
period which preceded it had been one of formation, of growth, and 
of struggle. The formation and consolidation of churches with their 
clergy had been the work of the seculars, of the regular canons, and in 
some places, of the monks. •# The spread of the faith among heathen 
nations had been, principally, effected by the latter, while the great 
struggle against the infidels of the East had produced the military 

351 



352 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



orders, which placed themselves in the front ranks of those who bore 
arms in defence of the Church. 

Things had grown to be more settled. The hierarchy was establish- 
ed throughout Europe, churches had everywhere been built and 
monasteries founded, schools and universities flourished under the fos- 
tering influence of the Church, towns and cities had grown up every- 
where, and the arts of civilization were in a prosperous condition. On 
the other hand, the charity of many had grown cold. In Italy, 
Southern France, and the Netherlands heresies were ever and anon 
cropping up, immorality had gained a great ascendancy, and, to some 
extent, even the salt of the earth had been corrupted. The clergy did 
not always afford the best example, and earthly prosperity had 
introduced relaxation into the monasteries. A new vivifying principle 
was required, and this was given by God in the establishment of the 
Mendicant orders. The astonished world received Francis and Dom- 
inic as a Godsend. Numbers flocked around the preachers of poverty 
andpenance, who, divesting themselves of earthly property, lived as the 
apostles had lived, and practised the detachment of apostolic times. 
The monks had drawn some of its best elements from the world to 
transplant them to the hot-house of the cloister, and had ministered to 
worldlings from whom their life separated them, as it were, from a dis- 
tance. The regular canons had followed an even tenor of life and a rou- 
tine of daily labor in the ordinary parochial ministry, to which the peo- 
ple had gradually become accustomed. Something more was required,, 
and this was furnished when the Seraph of Assisi, and the great St.- 
Dominic, surrounded by their disciples, like the prophets of old, raised 
their voices against the vices of their times. These men were monks by 
their vows and by the exercises of the monastic life which they followed, 
but at the same time they went into the world, they mingled with 
it, they bearded the lion in his den, they began a hand to hand combat 
with sin. They travelled from place to place wherever their services 
were needed, they occupied chairs in the universities, they went into 
the homes of the people. By means of their Third Orders they trans- 
ferred the cloister to the world. They fostered the spirit of piety, 
making use of nature to convey grace, and of the senses to raise the 
hearts of men to the contemplation of heavenly things. Thus far 
spiritual exercises had especially consisted in psalmody and in the 
offices of the Church, which were always performed in the Latin tongue. 
But, this language was no longer a popular one. Our modern Italian, 
Spanish, and French had already been born, while German and Anglo- 
Saxon were entirely different from the Latin language. The Franciscans 
and Dominicans mingled with the people, taught them popular devo- 



REFLECTIONS ON THE MENDICANT ORDERS. 353 



tions in their own language, the former inculcating love to the Passion 
of Our Lord by the exercise of the Way of the Cross, and the latter 
devotion to Our Lady by the recitation of the Rosary. The example set 
by Francis and Dominic was followed by the other Mendicant orders, 
such as the Carmelites and Augustinians. Preaching in the vernacular 
became more popular, and thus ignorance was dispelled, and piety 
was nourished. 

However, everything new finds opponents, and thus the Mendicants ex- 
perienced opposition. Hell could not rest quiet when so many souls 
were being snatched from its grasp. The storm broke out in the Univer- 
sity of Paris, where both the Franciscans and the Dominicans taught. 
Williamde St. Amour, adoctor of this university, andone of their bitter- 
est opponents, published a book entitled u On the Dangers of the Latter 
Times" which was a bitter invective against the Mendicant orders. The 
holy king, St. Louis, sent it to Pope Alexander IV., and St. Thomas and 
St. Bonaventure were deputed to defend their orders. The former 
published an Apology for the Mendicants, the result of which was that 
the Pope condemned the book of Williamde St. Amour. 

If }^ou ask me what the work of the Mendicants has been in the Church* 
I reply that it was one of reparation and the strengthening of faith and 
piety. We behold to-day the result of the labor of the apostles in the 
Church itself, that of themonks in the nationsconverted, several of which, 
alas! at a later period, fell into schism or heres}\ The work of the Men- 
dicants is, perhaps, less tangible, but it is no less real. You behold that 
splendid edifice; it reminds you forcibly of its architect, and of those who 
once labored at its construction, but, if you reflect, it will bring to your 
mind with no less strength the though-t of the many workmen who, cen- 
tury after century, have labored to keep it in repairs. Without their 
efforts it would long since have crumbled. That edifice is the Church, 
its architect was Christ, the first laborers were the apostles and the early 
missionaries. Those who have preserved it from decay are the Mendi- 
cants, together with the body of the secular clergy, and other religious, 
-each in his own sphere. 



PART VI. 



Regular Clerics. 



THE THEATINES. 



O Saint Cajetan belongs the honor of having given birth to the 



j[ institution of Regular Clerics. The saint was born in Lombar- 
dy, in the year 1480, and he seemed a saint from his childhood. After 
studying theology and taking the degree of doctor in the Civil and 
Canon Laws at Padua, he embraced the ecclesiastical state. At Rome 
Pope Julius II. compelled him to accept the office of Prothonotary in 
his court, which he,, however, resigned on the death of the Pope. 
From Rome he repaired to Vicenza. By the advice of his confessor, 
John of Crema, a Dominican friar, he" returned to the Eternal City, 
and associated himself to the Confraternity of the Love of God, a society 
to which he had formerly belonged. He deliberated with the members of 
this confraternity on some effectual means for the reformation of morals 
among Christians, and they all agreed that the best means was to re- 
vive in the clergy the apostolic spirit. A plan was hereupon formed 
among the associates for instituting an order of regular clergy upon 
the perfect model of the lives of the apostles. The first authors of 
this design were St. Cajetan ; John Petro Caraffa, Archbishop of 
Theate, afterwards Pope Paul IV.; Paul Consiglieri, and Boniface de 
Colle, a gentleman of Milan. The plan of the new institute was drawn 
up, laid before the Pope, and examined in a consistory of Cardinals in 
1524. The founders made it a rule of their institute that its members 
should not only possess no annual revenues, but that they should be 
forbidden even to beg or ask for necessary subsistence, being content 
to receive the voluntary contributions of the faithful, and relying entire- 
ly upon Providence. The clause, however, was added to the Rule 
that if a community should be reduced to extreme necessity, they should 
give notice of their distress by tolling the bell. The Pope allowed 
those among them who were possessed of ecclesiastical benefices ta 
resign them. 

The order was approved by Clement ViL, in 1524, and Caraffa was 
chosen the first General. As he still retained the title of Archbishop 




THEATINE FRIARS 



THE THE A TINES. 355 

of Theate, these Regular Clerics were from him called Theatines. Their 
principal objects were to preach to the people, assist the sick, oppose 
errors in the faith, restore among the laity the devout and frequent 
use of the sacraments, and re-establish the apostolic spirit in the clergy. 

The reputation of their sanctity drew many to their order. Their 
house in Rome on Monte Pincio was sacked by the army of Charles 
V. under the Constable de Bourbon. 

Caraffa's term of office having expired at the end of three years, St. 
Cajetan was chosen to succeed him in 1530, and he continued in office 
also for three years, when Caraffa again became General. St. Cajetan 
died at the house of his order in Naples, on August 7th, 1547. He 
was canonized by Clement X. in 1669. The Theatines were the first 
to take the name of Regular Clerics, and hence St. Cajetan is justly 
considered the patriarch of this branch of religious institutions. The 
second founder of the order, John Peter Caraffa, was born at Caprilla 
in 1476. He was nominated Bishop of Theate, in the kingdom of 
Naples, by Pope Julius II. Some time after he was sent as nuntius 
to Ferdinand of Aragon, who was taking possession of the kingdom of 
Naples. At the Council of Lateran, at which he assisted, Julius II. sent 
him to England as nuntius to Henry VIII., and he was afterwards 
employed by Leo X. in several affairs of importance. He once thought 
of abandoning the world and entering among the Camaldolese,.but 
the acquaintance he formed with St. Cajetan decided his vocation. 
Having begun the work, he resigned his two dioceses of Theate and 
of Brindisi, though he retained the title of the former. It was Car- 
^affa who first wrote the constitutions of the order. 

The congregation obtained an establishment in Naples in 1533, 
which was begun by St. Cajetan himself. At a general chapter held 
in Venice in the same year, Boniface de Colle was elected General. 
In 1536 Caraffa became Cardinal. Soon after, the question of a mode 
of government arose, and it was decided to choose the form of an 
aristocratic republic, by vesting the supreme authority in the general 
chapter. This only lasted until 1588, when Sixtus V. decreed that, 
like other orders, the Theatines should elect a General. 

On November 8th, 1546, the Congregation of the Somaschi was unit- 
ed to that of the Theatines, but as the objects of the institutes were 
entirely different, the union did not last, and they were again separat- 
ed in 1555. 

Two years after the death of St. Cajetan, Cardinal Caraffa was nom- 
inated Archbishop of Naples, but being prevented by the Spaniards 
from taking possession of his diocese, he became in the same year, 1549, 
Bishop of Santa Sabina, one of the titular sees of the six first Cardin- 



356 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



als. Finally, on May 23, 1555, he was elected to the supreme dignity in 
the Church, and he took the name of Paul 1 V. The Theatines now ob- 
tained two establishments in Rome, where they built the large church 
of St. Andrew della Valle. It was during the pontificate of Paul IV. 
that Paul Consiglieri, the fourth founder of the order, died in Rome, in 
1557. He was followed to the grave by Boniface de Colle, who 
breathed his last in Venice on August 28th of the following year, leav- 
ing the Pope as the sole survivor ; but only for a year, for the death knell 
sounded for Paul IV. on August 1 8th, 1559. He had done much dur- 
ing his pontificate for the reform of abuses. 

After his death the order became very numerous throughout Italy, 
and obtained also establishments in Spain, Poland, and other coun- 
tries. Cardinal Mazarin brought the Theatines to Paris in 1644. They 
also obtained missions in the East at Mingrelia, Circassia, and other 
places. % 

The Theatines were the first, in modern times, to labor at the reform 
of the clergy and to inculcate habits of piety into the people. Their 
zeal and regularity were so great that their name was commonly given 
to the most zealous ecclesiastics. 

The order has given many distinguished men to the Church. The 
celebrated Father Ventura, who even exercised the office of General, 
was one of its members. He unfortunately gave great cause of sor- 
row to his order during the existence of the Roman Republic in 1848, 
but his submission to a condemnation of one his works by the Congre- 
gation of the Index leaves room to hope that he died a sincere son 
of the Church. 

The Theatines wear the ordinary ecclesiastical habit, being distin- 
guished from secular priests by the color of their stockings, which are 
white. 



THEATINE NUNS. 



TWO female congregations have been founded under the title of 
Theatines of the Immaculate Conception, one with solemn, and 
the other with simple vows. Both were established by Mother Ursu- 
la Bennincasa, but the latter is the most ancient, and it is called the Con- 
gregation, while the former bears the name of the Hermitage. 

Ursula Bennincasa was born in Naples, on October 21 st, 1547. She 
was one of those privileged souls with whom virtue seems to be in- 
born, and who from an early age are raised to the most sublime com- 
munications with the Divinity. Hers was that peculiar psychologico- 
prseternatural condition, called the ecstatic, in which the intense ac- 
tivity of the intellectual functions suspends the working of the inferior 
powers of the soul. 

At an early age she retired into solitude in order to fly from the con- 
course of persons whom her extraordinary condition attracted. At 
her suggestion, a Spaniard named Gregorio de Navarra, built on the 
mountain where she dwelt a church in honor of the Immaculate Con- 
ception. When it had been completed, Ursula went to Rome to in- 
duce Pope Gregory XIII. to labor at the reformation of morals which 
were then very corrupted, as we may learn from certain literature of the 
times. She had two audiences of the Holy Father, in whose presence 
she each time fell into an ecstasy. The Pope, fearing lest she might 
be the victim of some illusion, appointed a commission to examine into 
her spiritual condition. St. Philip de Neri was one of its' members. 
All the trials to which these learned men subjected her only served to 
convince them that she was indeed guided by the spirit of God. Their 
report being favorable, she was permitted to return to Naples. In 
1583 she laid the foundations of her congregation, the first members 
of which were two of her sisters and six of her nieces. She limited 
the number of the members of her community to sixty-six, in honor of 
the number of years it is supposed the Blessed Virgin lived. A house 
was built for them beside the church erected by Gregorio Navarra. 

This congregation was modelled after the Order of Theatines, al- 
though these Fathers had no hand whatsoever in founding it, and even, 
for a considerable time, refused to charge themselves with its direc- 

357 



358 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



tion. It was not until 1616 that these pious women obtained a Theatine 

as confessor. 

The foundress prescribed that her Sisters should chant the Divine 
Office after the manner of the Theatines, that is, without music, and 
that they should recite the Office of the Blessed Virgin in particular. 
They were also to make an hour's meditation in the morning in com- 
mon, and another after Vespers. They were all to take turns in spend- 
ing an hour belore the Blessed Sacrament. Besides the feasts of the 
Church, they were to receive Holy Communion three times a week. 
Every Friday the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in the church. 
During the time of silence the Sisters were allowed to sing pious can- 
ticles in their cells. The use of musical instruments, even of the organ, 
was, however, forbidden, as well in the church as in the house. Every 
two w r eeks they were to accuse themselves in chapter of faults com- 
mitted against the rule. In Advent and in Lent and every Wednesday 
and Friday of the year they were obliged to take the discipline. Be- 
sides the fast-days of the Church, they fasted in Advent and on the 
vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Sacrament, of the Conception, and of 
the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. The congregation adopted the 
title of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin more than 
two centuries before this article of our faith had been declared a dogma. 

The habit of these Sisters was more or less similar to that of the 
Theatines, and it consisted of a black robe, of which the sleeves were 
wide, and which was bound around the waist by a woollen girdle. Their 
veil was white. Although they took only simple vows, they never- 
theless observed the rule of the cloister, and never spoke to outsiders 
except through a grating. 

The first Superior of this congregation was Mother Christina Bennin- 
casa, sister of Mother Ursula, who, out of humility, refused to accept 
the office. In 1633 the congregation was united to the order of the The- 
atines. 

The foundress predicted that her congregation would one day ex- 
ist in all the principal cities of Christendom, but thus far the predic- 
tion has not been verified. 

Af t er establishing this congregation, Mother Ursula founded another, 
which consisted of Sisters entirely devoted to the contemplative life. 
It was altogether different from the former, but it depended upon it in 
so far as its temporal necessities were concerned, which were left to the 
care of the congregation. The members of the latter order were to 
lead a most secluded life, and they bore the name of Sisters of the Her- 
mitage. Their monastery was situated near that of the congregation. 
Mother Ursula bought the ground on which it was to be built, but she 



THE A TINE NUNS. 



359 



did not live to see the work accomplished, for she died at Naples on 
October 20th, 161 8. On April 7, 1623, Pope Gregory XV. approved 
the constitutions she had framed for this order, which was to follow 
the rule of St. Augustinand to be subject to the jurisdiction, visit, and 
correction of the Theatines. It appears, however, that for some rea- 
son or other these Fathers were accused of failing to take charge of 
the direction of the nuns, and consequently Urban VIII. exempted 
them from their jurisdiction, placing them under that of his nuntius 
at Naples. In 1633 the Theatines, having accepted the charge, and 
the Pope learning that the accusation which had been brought against 
them was false, Clement IX., in 1668, annulled the decree of Urban VIII. 

The constitutions of the order limited the number of religious in the 
monastery to thirty-six. They were bound to perpetual abstinence 
from flesh meat, and they observed several fast-days. Their other cor- 
poral mortifications, such as the discipline, were not as numerous as 
those prescribed for the Sisters of the congregation. On the day of 
their profession the Sisters were allowed to speak with their nearest 
relatives for the last time, after which they were never to see them 
again. The life of these Sisters is one of the most absolute separation 
from the world. Their habit consists of a white robe, blue scapular and 
mantle, and a black veil. 



BARNAB1TES, OR, REGULAR CLERICS OF ST. PAUL. 



ALTHOUGH the Order of Regular Clerics of St. Paul is compara- 
tively recent, it having been founded shortly after that of the 
Theatines, yet a considerable amount of mystery seems to enshroud 
its origin. It has also been made the butt of atrocious assaults on the 
part of the enemies of religious orders. We shall merely content our- 
selves with walking in the footsteps oi Helyot, to whom we look up 
as to a trustworthy guide. 

The foundation of the Order of Regular Clerics must be ascribed to 
the year 1530, when its foundations were laid by Antonio Maria Zac- 
charia of Cremona, and Bartholomew Ferrari and James Anthony 
Morigia, both of Milan. , Zaccharia was born at Cremona in 1500, of 
parents who belonged to the highest nobility of the city. From his 
earliest infancy he applied himself sedulously to the practise of vir- 
tue. After finishing the classics, he studied philosophy and medicine 
at Padua, where he received the degree of doctor at the age of twenty. 
A religious of the Order of St. Dominic having advised him to em- 
brace the ecclesiastical state, he began the study of theology. After 
his ordination to the priesthood, he attached himself to the church of 
St. Vitalis, where he applied himself with great zeal to preaching the 
word of God, his reputation spreading rapidly. As he possessed 
certain property in the city of Milan, it was necessary for him to 
spend there some months of the year in order not to lose the right 
of citizenship which had been conferred on the family of Zaccha- 
ria. Here he became bound by the ties of friendship with two noble 
Milanese who belonged to a confraternity called of the Eternal Wis- 
dom. The result of this friendship was the establishment of a so- 
ciety of Clerics, of which the principal duties would be the hearing of 
confessions, preaching, the instruction of youth, the direction of semi- 
naries, missions, and other works under the guidance of the Bishops. 
It was in the year 1530 that, the first members were united, and in a 
short time they were joined by other companions, the first of whom 
were Francisco Lucco and Giacomo Caseo. The two other founders 
of this order, as we have said, were both Milanese. Bartholomew 
Ferrari was born in 1497. He studied law at Pavia, and led a very 
edifying life. After returning to Milan he assumed the ecclesiastical 

360 



BARNABITES, OR, REGULAR CLERICS OF ST. PAUL. 361 



habit and entered the Confraternity of the Eternal Wisdom. With the 
greatest zeal he visited the hospitals and devoted himself to the works 
of mercy. 

James Anthony Morigia, the third founder of the Order of Regular 
Clerics of St. Paul, was born of a noble Milanese lamily about the 
year 1493. Unlike Zaccharia and Ferrari, his early education was 
neglected, and the result was that having finished his studies he gave 
himself over to a life of pleasure. However, an occasional visit which 
he paid to relatives of his who were nuns in the Convent of St. Mar- 
garet, exercised a beneficial influence upon his heart to that extent 
that he conceived a disgust for the vanities of the world, and deter- 
mined to embrace the service of God. He too entered the ecclesi- 
astical state, and became a member of the Confraternity of the Eternal 
Wisdom. Shortly after he joined Zaccharia and Ferrari in founding 
the Congregation of Regular Clerics of St. Paul. 

Towards the end of the year 1532 they addressed themselves to 
Pope Clement VII., to obtain the confirmation of their congregation. 
Basilio Ferrari, brother of one of the founders, was the Pope's secretary, 
and he employed his influence over the Holy Father to obtain the favor 
requested. In February of the following year, the Pope being at Bo- 
logna, granted them a brief, permitting them to found a new order of 
Regular Clerics, in which they might take the three vows of religion 
in presence of the Archbishop of Milan, to whom they were subject. 
They were at the same time permitted to make solemn profession, to 
admit others to it, to dwell in common, and to draw up constitutions 
for the regular observance. In the same year Francisco Sforza, Duke 
of Milan, permitted them to acquire real estate in the city and terri- 
tory of Milan. 

Zaccharia, having bought a small house near the gate of Pavia, in- 
troduced the common life among his companions, of whom he became 
the Superior, and he drew up the first constitutions of the order. A 
short time after taking up their abode in this house the first members 
of the order were joined by four others. 

In 1534 Zaccharia gave his companions the habit of religion, which 
was that of the secular priests of his time, but of a coarser material. 
Their biretta was round, according to the custom of Lombardy, but 
it was afterwards changed for the square one. They practised the 
greatest austerities and performed the most humiliating works. The 
novelty of their life caused them to be denounced to the Archbishop, 
the Inquisition, and the Senate, but the proceedings against them re- 
sulted only in their justification. 

Paul III., who succeeded Clement VII., granted them new privileges 



362 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



in 1535, exempting them from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of 
Milan, and placing them under the protection of the Holy See. He 
also permitted them to adopt the name of Regular Clerics, and to 
elect a Superior whose office should be triennial. They had already 
chosen St. Paul as their patron, and had begun to call themselves by 
his name. The Pope permitted them to build a church in honor of the 
Apostle, and made them participants in all the privileges granted to 
the Regular Canons of the Lateran Congregation. 

Zaccharia, having been Superior nearly six years, assembled his 
brethren, and Morigia was elected to govern the congregation with 
the title of Provost. He had been ordained priest only a few months 
before. 

In 1537 Zaccharia and a few companions undertook their first mis- 
sion at Vicenza, whither the Bishop of that city had called him. Mis- 
sions were subsequently given at Verona, Pavia, and Venice. The 
Nuns of the Order of the Angelicas, of whom we shall treat in the fol- 
lowing article, accompanied the Regular Clerics in order to labor at 
the conversion of persons of their sex. Zaccharia, being only forty- 
two years old, died in 1539 a ^ Cremona, wdiere he was born. 

Morigia continued six years in his office of Superior, and in 1542 he 
was succeeded by Ferrari. In the same year "they opened their or- 
atory under the invocation of St. Paul. A few years later, in 1545, 
they changed their residence to the church of St. Barnabas, whence 
they obtained the name of Barnabites. There existed at that time an- 
other order of which the religious were also styled Barnabites or 
Apostolins. These formed a distinct body, and must not be confound- 
ed with the Regular Clerics, of whom there is here question. The 
Apostolins were suppressed by Innocent X. in 1650. 

Ferrari, the second founder of the order, died in November, 1544. 
He was followed to the grave by Morigia on April 13, 1546. The 
constitutions of the order, drawn up by Zaccharia, had been changed 
in the general chapter of 1542, and in that of 1579 others w T ere framed, 
which were examined by St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, 
and approved by Pope Gregory XIII. 

Saint Charles held these religious in the highest esteem, and fre- 
quently made a retreat among them. One of their number, Father 
Alexander Sauli, afterwards General of the order, was the confessor 
of the saint. At that time the holy Cardinal; experiencing great dif- 
ficulty in his endeavors to reform the order of the Humiliati, desired 
to unite them with the Barnabites, who would thus have made an 
acquisition of one hundred and fifty religious, and of more than twenty- 
five thousand scnti, which was their revenue. The Regular Clerics 



BARNABITES, OR, REGULAR CLERICS OF ST. PA UL. 363 



would, however, not accede to the proposition, for fear of being- con- 
taminated by the new-comers. The union, therefore, did not take place,, 
and the Humiliati were suppressed by Pope Pius V. 

After the death of the founders, the Order of Barnabites spread 
rapidly throughout Italy, where they obtained a number of colleges, 
as their houses are called. In 1608 Henry IV. called them to France,, 
and afterwards Louis XIII. permitted them to establish themselves 
throughout the kingdom. The}^ also obtained foundations in Austria, 
Bohemia, and Savoy. The Barnabites occupied professors' chairs in 
the universities of Milan and Pavia ; they were theologians to the 
grand-dukes of Florence, and they gave many bishops to the cities of 
Italy. 

Among those of their members who have distinguished themselves 
by their learning and piety we mention Alexander de Sauli, Charles 
a Basilica Petri, annalist of the diocese of Milan, and Gavanti, the ru- 
bricist. The habit of the order is that worn by the clergy of Lombardy 
at the time when it was founded. 

Besides the fast-days of the Church, these religious fast on every 
Friday of the year, the two last days of Carnival, and from the first 
Sunday of Advent until Christmas. They abstain every Wednesday 
and observe a rigorous silence from the evening examination until af- 
ter Matins the following day. In the beginning, like the Theatines, 
they practised extreme poverty, neither possessing revenues nor beg- 
ging, but at a later period they accepted real estate and revenues. Be- 
sides the three vows, they bind themselves by a fourth, never to seek 
after dignities within or without the order, and not to accept them out- 
side of the order without the permission of the Pope. Their lay- 
brothers are not admitted to the habit until after a trial of five years. 
They hold a general chapter every three years, and their Superiors 
may be re-elected for three years more, but may not be continued in 
office for a longer period. Pope Alexander VII. removed the resi- 
dence of their General from Milan to Rome, and decreed that their 
general chapters should be held in the latter city, but Innocent XL 
modified the decree and decided that the chapters should convene 
alternately at Milan and at Rome. 



ANGELICAS AND GUASTALL1NES. 



HE foundress of the Order of Angelicas was Louisa Torelli, 



Countess of Guastalla. She had been twice married, and she was 



left a widow by her second husband at the age of twenty-five. She 
then determined to consecrate the rest of her life to God. By the advice 
of her director, the Dominican Father, Baptistaof Crema, she establish- 
ed a community of women at Milan. This probably took place be- 
fore the year 1530. Father Baptista, having been recalled to his mon- 
astery, she prayed Father Zaccharia, founder of the Barnabites, to take 
upon himsell the direction of her community. Before, however, plac- 
ing herself under the direction of the latter, the Countess of Guas- 
talla exhausted, during three years, all resources to induce the Super- 
iors of the Dominicans not to recall Father Baptista. Her endeavors 
were in vain, for the Dominicans invoked the authority of the Pope 
to force him under pain of excommunication to relinquish the guid- 
ance of the community. He obeyed, and died soon after. The count- 
ess and her religious now submitted to the direction of Zaccharia, who 
obtained for them their approbation from Rome. By a Brief of the 
year 1534, Paul III. permitted the Countess of Guastalla to found a 
congregation of women under the rule of St. Augustin, and according 
to the statutes to be given them by the Archbishop of Milan. 

The countess, having sold her property at Guastalla to Ferdinand 
de Gonzaga, used the money thus obtained to build a vast monastery at 
Milan, together with a church dedicated under the title of the Conver- 
sion of St. Paul. The Pope had ordained that they should be taught 
the regular observance by six nuns of the Order of St. Augustin, St. 
Benedict, or St. Dominic. They chose the latter, and having been 
sufficiently instructed, received the habit of religion in 1536. Father 
Zaccharia they chose for their confessor. The foundress herself 
changed her name to that of Paula-Mary. They adopted the name 
of Angelicas, by the advice of Zaccharia, in order to be constantly re- 
minded of the purity of the angels. In 1536 Paul III. exempted them 
from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Milan, and placed them 
entirely under that of the General of the Regular Clerics of St. Paul. 

In the beginning they were not bound to observe enclosure, but they 
left their monastery and accompanied the Regular Clerics on their 




364 



A NGEL1 GAS AND GUA ST A LL1NES. 



365 



missions, to work at the salvation of women. Paul III. approved this 
kind of missions, at the request of the three founders of the Barnabites, 
and of the Countess of Guastalla and two of her companions. The 
same Pope, among other privileges, accorded to the Angelicas that ol 
entering into all monasteries of women of the city of Milan, even those 
of the Order of St. Clare. 

At the mission given at Vincenza by Father Zaccharia, he was ac- 
companied by the Countess of Guastalla and Paula- Antoinette de Nigris, 
who succeeded in rescuing several women from a life of vice, and in- 
ducing them to enter a monastery built by the countess under the title 
of the Magdalene. 

This following of the priests on their missions seems to have become 
for Paula-Antoinette the cause of her downfall by filling her heart 
with pride aud vanity. In the beginning she had given great proofs 
of sanctity, and her sentiments were sincere as long as they were 
humble. After the death of Zaccharia and the other founders, seeing 
herself the object of universal esteem, being consulted on all sides by 
the clergy, the nuns, and the people, she allowed herself to be seduced by 
the spirit of pride. Being mistress of novices, she aspired to become 
a universal mistress, writing letters of spirituality in all directions, 
sending them off with authority, and taking pleasure in hearing her- 
self styled the divine mistress. 

The Regular Clerics, having exhausted their efforts to bring her to 
other sentiments, denounced her to Rome. The congregation of the 
Holy Office, by the advice of Pope Julius III., ordered that she should 
be ejected from the monastery of the Angelicas and enclosed within 
that of St. Clare. The cause of this punishment, as stated in the decree, 
was that she had allowed herself to be be seduced by the devil, 
usurped a title due to God alone, the spirit and the gift of prophesy and 
revelation, and the authority of priests and prelates, and that she had 
troubled the peace of her monastery. She escaped from the convent 
of St. Clare, and refusing to re-enter it, she died in 1555. 

The Countess Louisa Torelli, foundress of the Angelicas, died in 1559, 
aged 69 years. Her Sisters who had at first, been under the direction 
of a Father of the Order of St. Dominic, and who had been instructed 
in the regular observance by Dominican nuns, adopted the habit of 
that order, with this exception, that they wore the black mantle only 
from the beginning of October until Easter. They wear a woollen 
cross on the breast, and a golden ring with the image of the crucifix 
engraved upon it. The choir religious wear white shoes, while those 
of the lay-sisters, as well as their scapulars, are black. In the beginning 
they wore constantly a crown of thorns, but this was afterwards 



366 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



limited to solemn occasions, and to the week following the investiture 
and profession of a religious. 

Their constitutions were drawn up by St. Charles Borromeo, and 
approved by Pope Urban VIII. in May, 1625. Their observances 
require them to recite the office in accordance with the Roman rite. 
They begin Lent on the Monday after Quinquagesima, and fast in 
Advent and every Friday of the year, except Christmas and the Friday 
within the octave of Easter. They also fast on certain vigils, and ab- 
stain on all Wednesdays of the year. 

Each religious bears the name of Angelica besides that of a saint 
and of their family. Thus Angelica Jane de Visconti Borromeo was 
the name of a religious who was several times Superior of their mon- 
astery of Milan. 

The Countess of Guastalla had also established a community of pious 
women without vows, who devoted themselves to the education of cer- 
tain poor orphans of noble blood. It was called the College ot Guas- 
talla, and those who composed it bore the name of Guastallines. They 
wore a black habit with a little white veil. 



THE SOMASCHI. 



ST. Jerome Emiliani, the founder of this order, was born of a noble 
house in Venice, in the year 1481. In his early days he evinced 
much inclination to virtue, and applied himself to study until the age 
of fifteen, when a military ' spirit took possession of his heart. The 
Venetians had entered into a league with the Pope, the emperor, the 
kings of Castile and Naples, the duke of Milan, and the marquis of 
Mantua, against Charles VIII. , king of France. In spite of the tears 
of his mother, who had recently lost her husband, Jerome enlisted 
among the troops raised by the Republic of Venice. It was for him 
an unfortunate day, for he soon fell into the vices so common in the mili- 
tary profession. After the return of Charles VIII. to France, the Ven- 
etians, having disbanded their troops, Jerome returned home, but, in 
1508, he again took up arms in the army of his country against Louis 
XII. and other princes who were in league against them. The senate 
of the republic confided to him the defence of Castel Novo on the con- 
fines of Treviso. The governor of this place, having abandoned it in a 
cowardly manner, Emiliani was left with a demoralized garrison. 
However, he determined to defend the place to the last extremity. 
After sustaining several assaults, the castle finally succumbed, most 
of the men were put to death, and Emiliani himself was thrown into a 
dark dungeon by the Germans into whose hands he had fallen. 
Chained hand and foot, he had nothing to eat but bread and water, 
and he was subjected to many outrages. In those awful moments, 
his past life arose before him, he began to weep over his disorderly 
conduct, and resolved to make amends if God spared him. He had 
recourse to the Blessed Virgin, and, it is said, that through her inter- 
cession he was miraculously delivered from prison. When peace had 
been restored, he was made chief of justice in Castel Novo, which had 
been given to his family for thirty years in recognition of his services. 
He did not exercise this office long, for after his brother's death he 
returned to Venice to take care of his nephews. He also made amends 
for his past conduct, choosing as his director a learned and pious Can- 
on Regular of the Congregation of Lateran, under whose guidance 
he gave himself over to the exercises of humility and mortification. 
His daily occupation consisted in visiting the hospitals and churches. 



.368 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



During a famine which ravaged Venice in 1528 he was indefatigable in 
the exercise of charity. Soon after, he was attacked by a contagious 
disease which had followed in the wake of the famine. Having received 
the sacraments and awaiting death, he begged of God to restore him 
to health that he might satisfy for his sins. His prayer was heard, 
and, on recovering his health, he divested himself of the garments 
worn by members of the nobility, and appeared in the streets of the 
city clad in vile clothes. 

The result of the famine and pestilence had been that many children 
were left orphans without any means of subsistence. Emiliani imme- 
diately took pity on them. He prepared a house near the church of St. 
Roch, and gathered them together from the streets. He confided the 
care of this house to friends, and went to Verona where, mingling with 
the poor, he instructed them in the truths of religion. He founded 
a second orphan asylum at Brescia, and two others, one for boys and 
another for girls, at Bergamo. In 1532 he also established a house for 
converted prostitutes, for his charity extended to all classes of persons. 
Thus far his associates in these good works had all been laymen, but 
after the foundations of Bergamo, two priests, Alexander Bezulio and 
Augustin Bariso, joined them. Some time later Emiliani assembled 
his brethren to deliberate on the place where the mother-house of 
their congregation should be established. They concluded not to have 
it in a city, but rather in some retired spot where persons entering the 
congregation might be prepared for their work. Somascha, situated 
between Bergamo and Milan, seemed most appropriate. Here Emiliani 
began to prescribe rules for the government of his congregation. 
Like all religious institutions in their origin, the congregation of the 
Somaschi was most edifying by its regular observance. After found- 
ing other establishments, St. Jerome Emiliani retired to Somascha, 
where he died, on February 8th, 1537, at the age of fifty-six. He was 
canonized by Clement XIII. 

After his death his congregation was approved by Paul III. in 1540, 
and confirmed, in 1563, by Pius IV. In 1568, Pope Pius V. placed the 
congregation among the religious orders and under the rule of St. 
Augustin, permitting its members to take solemn vows, and giving them 
the title of Regular Clerics. Angelo Marco Gambarana was elected 
first General of the order. In 1583 Sixtus V. exempted it from the 
jurisdiction ot the Bishops, and Paul V., afterwards allowed it to share 
in the privileges of the Mendicant orders. In 1661 Alexander VII. 
divided the order into the provinces of Lombardy, Venice, and Rome. 
Besides their orphanages, the Somaschi obtained a number of colleges 
in Italy. 



THE SOMAS CHI. 



369* 



In 1546, at their own request, tne Somaschi had been united to the 
Theatines. The union, however, was of short duration, for the object 
of their institution, that of taking charge of orphans, being so entirely 
different from that of the Theatines, it was hard for both to change 
their observances, hence a separation took place in 1554. During the 
time of their union with that order they had been subject to its super- 
iors. In 1616 the Fathers of the Christian Doctrine in France were 
united to them, the Somaschi exercising the superiority. Neither did 
this union last, but it came to an end in 1647. 




THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



AMONG the man}- illustrious orders that have added to the glory 
of God and of the Church, thejesuits stand foremost. Bornatatime 
when the Church was sorel} 7 tried and the blows inflicted by heresy fell 
thickandfast, the young Society of Jesus placed itself as a bulwark before 
its mother, receiving the greater portion of those blows, but return- 
ing blow for blow. Its career has since been one of widespread use- 
fulness, but also one of constant persecution. 

Its founder, St Ignatius de Loyola, was born in 1491, of an illustrious 
family in Guipuscoa, a province in Biscay. He was bred in the court of 
Ferdinand V. as page to the king. Led by the love of glory, he 
soon entered the army, where he distinguished himself by his valor. 
Being wounded at the siege of Pamplona, and carried to the cas- 
tle of Loyola, he was brought to the very brink of the grave. How- 
ever, it pleased Divine Providence to restore him, for he had a great 
work to accomplish. While confined to his bed he began to read the 
Lives of the Saints. In these he heard the voice of God, the spirit of the 
world gradually left him, and that of heaven entered his soul. One night, 
while prostrate before an image of the Blessed Virgin, he consecrated 
himself to the service of hisRedeemer, under her patronage, and vowed 
inviolable fidelity. Being cured of his w r ound, he left the Castle of 
Loyola, and went to the holy mountain of Montserrat. In the Bene- 
dictine abbey he made a general confession, took a vow of perpetual 
chastity, and dedicated himself anew to the divine service. He received 
the Blessed Eucharist on the feast of the Annunciation in 1552, and, clad 
as a pilgrim, left Montserrat. He next went to the hospital of Man- 
resa, a town three leagues from the mountain, where he began to 
lead a very mortified life. After sometime his soul was visited by 
darkness and severe scruples, which were again followed by a great 
tranquillity of mind. It -was at Manresa that he wrote his spiritual 
exercises, which he published at Rome in 1548. In these he reduced 
the exercises of retreat and meditation to a system. 1 After asojourn of 
ten months at Manresa he departed on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and 
arrived at Jaffa in 1523, whence he went on foot to Jerusalem. He 

1 On our recent visit to Spain we passed through Manresa, but time did not permit us 
to stop. The grotto of St. Ignatius was pointed out to us in the distance. 

370 



ST. FRANCIS XAVIER'S CHURCH, NEW YORK. 



THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



371 



returned to Europe and arrived at Venice in 1524. Thence he travelled 
to Barcelona, where at the age of 33 he began to study grammar. 
After spending two years at Barcelona, he went to the University of 
Alcala, where he attended lectures on logic, physics, and theology. 
From Alcala he proceeded to Salamanca. His sojourn in Spain was ase- 
riesof persecutions. Finally, leaving that country, he travelled on foot to 
Paris, where he arrived in February, 1528. He spent two years in perfect- 
ing himself in the Latin tongue, and then went through a course of philos- 
ophy and soon acquired a great reputation of sanctity, so that even ancient 
and experienced doctors consulted him on spiritual matters. With the 
assistance of Peter Faber, a Savoyard, he finished his philosophy, and 
took the degree of Master of Arts. After this he began his theology 
at the Dominicans. In exchangefor the scientific assistance he had re- 
ceived from Peter Faber, he taught the latter his spiritual exercises 
and the practises of the interior life. His words effected an entire 
change of heart in Francis Xavier, a young master of philosophy. James 
Laynez, Alphonsus Salmeron, and Nicholas Alphonso, surnamed Boba- 
dilla, all young Spaniards, and Simon Rodriguez, a Portuguese, as- 
sociated themselves to the Saint in his pious exercises. They all made 
together a vow to renounce the world and to preach the Gospel in 
Palestine, or, if they could not go thither within a year after they finished 
their studies, to offer themselves to the Pope, to be employed in the 
service of God in what manner he should judge best. On the feast of 
the Assumption of our Lady, in 1534, they met in a subterranean chapel 
at Montmartre. After receiving Holy Communion from Peter Faber, 
who had been lately ordained priest, they pronounced aloud this vow to 
go to Jerusalem. Ignatius being obliged by order of his physicians to 
pay a short visit to his native land, during his absence three others 
joined his companions in Paris. They were Claude le Jay, a Savoyard ; 
John Codues, a native of Dauphine; and Pasquier Brouet, of Picardy. 
The nine companions of Ignatius met him by appointment at Venice, on 
January 8th, 1537. From here all, with the exception of Ignatius, went 
to Rome, where they were graciously received by Pope Paul III., 
who granted them an indult allowing those that were not priests to 
receive Holy Ordersfrom whatever Bishop they pleased. Together with 
Ignaiius they were ordained at Venice by the Bishop of Arbe. They 
had previously pronounced the vows of povert} 7 and chastity, in the hands 
of the nuntius Varelti. After their ordination they retired into a cottage 
near Vicenza to prepare themselves in solitude by fasting and prayer for 
the holy ministry. They then dispersed into several places. Their 
pilgrimage to Palestine having become impracticable on account of the 
wars, and the year being elapsed, Ignatius, Faber, and Laynez, went to 



372 HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



Romeand offered themselves to His Holiness for whatever workhe should 
choose to employ them. Pope Paul III. received them graciously, and 
appointed Faber — inhis native tongue Le Fevre — to teach scholasticthe- 
ology in the college of the Sapienza at Rome, and Laynez, to explain 
the holy Scripture, whilst Ignatius labored by means of his spiritual 
exercises to reform the manners of the people. 

Thus were laid the foundations of the Society of Jesus, which began 
a new epoch in the history of religious orders. The admirable Rule of 
the great Legislator of Monte Casino had been especially adapted to 
the formation of sons of the Cloister. It was characterized by the 
bodily austerities which it imposed, nor did it originally enter into min- 
ute details. Its government was that of alimited monarchy. Whereverit 
was faithfully observed it simply worked marvels. There was something, 
however, which seemed to separate the Benedictine monk from the 
people. His habit, his dwelling-place, and his monastic observances,, 
marked him as a man set apart. Seclusion from the world was one of 
the principal objects he sought for. When in the thirteenth century St. 
Dominic and St. Francis had founded their institutes, the monastic life 
began toassume a different phase. Mingling more with the worldin vir- 
tue of his ministry, the friar nevertheless still remained in a certain sense 
a monk, for both Francis and Dominic preserved monastic traditions and 
monasticobservances. It wasnotthus with Ignatius; he seemed tobreak 
with the traditions of the past, and he launched out boldly upon an 
unexplored ocean. True, Ignatius is not the patriarch of Regular 
Clerics, this honor belonging to St. Cajetan, but his work was so entirely 
new that he may be said to have inaugurated another era in the history 
of monasticism. 

Let us follow the development of the Society. The holy founder 
summoned all his companions to Rome, and proposed to them his de- 
sign of forming them into a religious order. After recommending 
the matter to God by fasting and prayer, all agreed, besides the 
vows of poverty and chastity already made by them, to add a third, 
that of perpetual obedience, and to elect a General who should govern 
for life, whose authority should be absolute, and not restrained by 
chapters. The government of Benedict had been that of a limited 
monarchy; the rule of Dominic was highly democratic; that of Ignatius 
prescribed an absolute monarchy. The Jesuits were also to take the 
vow of going wherever the Pope should send them. The professed 
Jesuits were to possess no revenues, either in particular or in common. 
The Society of Jesus was approved by a Bull of Pope Paul III., dated 
September 27, 1540. Ignatius was chosen the first General. 

The Society had now begun to spread. Simon Rodriguez was sent 



THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



373 



to Portugal, and St. Francis Xavier to the Indies. Members of the So- 
ciety were eagerly desired by many of the Catholic princes of Europe. 
John. Nugnez and Louis Gonzales were sent to the kingdoms of Fez and 
Morocco; in 1547, four others went to Congo, and, in 1555, thirteen to 
Abyssinia, while others were sent to the Portuguese settlements in 
South America. Pope Paul III. commissioned the Fathers James 
Laynez and Alphonsus Salmeron, to assist, in quality of his theologians 
at the Council of Trent. Father Claude Le Jay appeared in the same 
council as theologian of Cardinal Otto, Bishop of Ausburg. St. Peter 
Canisius labored most zealously in Germany, and died in 1597. 

In 1546 the Jesuits opened their first schools in Europe, at Gandia 
in Spain, and Coimbra in Portugal. In 155 1, St. Francis Borgia gave 
a considerable sum towards building the Roman College for the Jesuits. 

Francis de Borgia, Duke of Gandia, after the death of his wife, had 
resolved to enter the Society of Jesus, and had applied to St. Ignatius. 
The saint granted his request with joy on condition that he would 
first provide for his children. The duke, impatient to consecrate 
himself to God, wrote a second letter to the holy Founder, who then 
obtained for him from the Sovereign Pontiff permission to take the 
vows of the professed without leaving the world, authorizing him at 
the same time to retain possession of his goods for the space of three 
years. Finally, in 1 5 5 1 , a few years before the death of St. Ignatius, 
Francis Borgia took the habit of the Society in the college of Ona'te, 
situated at a distance of four leagues from Loyola. 

The Jesuits at that time possessed four provinces: those of Italy, 
Spain, Portugal, and the Indies. In 1552 that of Spain was divided 
into two, and, in 1554, into three provinces. Their entrance into 
France was accompanied by great difficulties. The king, Henry II., 
had permitted them to found a college at Paris, but they encountered 
strong opponents in the bishop of that city, and in the theological 
faculty of the Sorbonne. The former believed that their institute was 
opposed to the rights of the bishops, while the latter expressed its ob- 
jections in the following document: 

" That the new society, which attributes to itself the name of Jesus, 
receives indiscriminately all kinds of persons, no matter what crime they 
have committed or how infamous they are ; that they differ in nothing 
from secular priests, having neither the habit, nor the choir, nor the 
silence, nor the fasts, nor the other observances which distinguish and 
maintain the religious state, that it seems to violate the modesty of 
the monastic profession by the many immunities and liberties it pos- 
sesses in its functions, especially in the administration of the sacraments 
. of Penance and the Eucharist, without any distinction of places and 



374 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



persons, in the ministry of the word of God, and in the instruction of 
youth to the prejudice of the hierarchical order, of the other religious 
and even of princes or other temporal lords, against the privileges of 
universities and to the charge of the people ; that it enervates the 
holy practise of virtues, of penances, and of the ceremonies of the 
Church ; that it gives occasion freely to apostatize from other religious 
societies; that it refuses to the ordinaries the obedience due them; 
that it deprives unjustly of their rights superiors, both ecclesiastical 
and temporal, introduces everywhere divisions, jealousies, quarrels, and 
schisms, and, finally, that for all these reasons this society seems dan- 
gerous in matters of faith, inimical to the peace of the Church, fatal to 
monastic religion, and born rather for the ruin than for the edification 
of the faithful." 

These were the accusations brought against the Jesuits, a prelude, 
as it were, to the thousands of a similar nature which, in course of 
time, were to be hurled against the Society. It was not the first time 
that the doctors of Paris had drawn the sword against a new religious 
institution. Jn the thirteenth century some of their number had at- 
tacked the Mendicants^ when it required no less forcible a pen than 
that of the Doctor of the Schools, St. Thomas Aquinas, to refute 
them. 

How did the Jesuits defend themselves ? The Fathers in Rome 
were of the opinion that it was necessary to meet this accusation with 
a formal refutation, but St. Ignatius thought differently ; lor him 
silence was the best answer. The publication of the decree of the 
Sorbonne nevertheless did its work, and all Paris was excited against 
the Jesuits.' However, the storm soon blew over, and the Fathers 
were enabled to establish themselves in France. 

Not only in France, but elsewhere the Jesuits became the object of 
persecution. The Archbishop of Toledo declared against them, under 
pretext that under cover of their privileges they encroached on the 
rights of the episcopacy by the liberty with which they administered 
the sacraments. He interdicted the Fathers of the college of Alcala 
all in one day. One of their antagonists in Spain was the celebrated 
Melchior Canus, of the Order of St. Dominic. 

However, the Society also had it consolations, for in Italy it made 
great progress, and in other countries it was not without influential 
protectors. It was again confirmed by the Holy See in 1550, and two 
years later St. Ignatius established the German college in the Eternal 
city. For a short time a dark cloud passed over the Society, even in 
Rome,' when, in 1553, Julius III., believing that the Spanish Jesuits 
had sided with the Emperor Charles V. against the Holy See, became 



THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



375 



incensed against them. This cloud soon blew over, for the suspicions 
of the Pope being allayed, he showed them new marks of kindness. 
His successor, Marcellus II., was also favorably inclined towards the 
Society. At the accession of Cardinal Caraffa to the See of Peter, it 
was feared that he would be ill-disposed toward them on account of 
St. Ignatius having refused to unite the Society with the order of 
Theatines. But the contrary was the case, for Paul IV. became their 
friend and protector. 

St Ignatius de Loyola, having had the consolation of seeing the 
Society propagated throughout the world and divided into twelve 
provinces, rendered his soul to God on July 31st, 1556. The author 
of this work shall never forget the afternoon, when, having left the 
tombs of St. Aloysius de Gonzaga and St. John Berchmans in the 
church of the Colegio Romano, he knelt before the magnificent shrine 
in the church of the Gesu where the body of the founder of the Society 
of Jesus reposes. There lies all that is mortal of a man whose influ- 
ence has been felt to the furthest extremities of the earth. His 
works have survived him, for the Society still lives. 

After the death of the saint, the Society was two years without a 
head, the Spaniards and the Italians being governed by separate Vicar- 
Generals, though F. Natal in Spain humbly ceded the superiority to 
F. Laynez, in Italy. F. Bobadilla seems to have had some pretension 
to the right of governing, but he was obliged to yield to Laynez, 
who convoked the general congregation which was held in 1588, and 
in which the latter was elected General. After the election of Laynez, 
Paul IV". brought forward two objections against the Society which con- 
sisted herein, that the Jesuits did not recite the office in common, and 
that their General governed for life. He insisted on these two points, 
to which the Jesuits found it difficult to submit, but they derived con- 
solation from the fact that the decree of the Sovereign Pontiff, being 
merely a simple command, would only be valid during his lifetime. 
Pius V., in 1567, again obliged them to the choral recitation of the 
Divine Office, but Gregory XIII., in 1573, re-established the Society 
on its former basis. Father Laynez died in 1564, and he was succeeded 
by St. Francis Borgia. It was during the government of this General 
that the youthful saint, Stanislas Kostka, entered the novitiate in Rome. 
His tomb is preserved in the church of Sant 'Andrea nel Quirinale, 
which, since the occupation of Rome by the Italian government, is 
served by secular priests, though a Jesuit Brother still resides there. 

St. Francis Borgia died in 1572, and he was succeeded by Father 
Mercurien, who, in 1581, was followed by F. Acquaviva. Helyot 
says little of this General, and nevertheless it is asserted that he exer- 



376 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



cised immense influence over the order. The method of studies, or 
Ratio Studiomm of the Jesuits, is especially due to him. He filled the 
office of General until 1615, when F. Vitelleschi succeeded him. The 
immediate successors of Vitelleschi were Fathers Nickel, Oliva, Gon- 
zales, and Tamburini. 

In the seventeenth century the Society of Jesus was rendered illus- 
trious by the lives of many of its children, to some of whom the honors 
of the altar have been decreed. Several of them fell as martyrs in 
defence of the faith. The Jesuit saint most widely honored in the 
Church after St. Ignatius, is that noble scion of the Gonzagas, the 
angelic youth, Aloysius. We know nothing more impressive than 
the modest suite of apartments in the Colegio Romano, sanctified by 
the life of that holy young man. Enter the church of St. Ignatius, 
situated in the Via del Colegio Romano. To the left of the High Altar, 
not far from the tomb of the saint, a little door will admit you to a 
winding flight of stairs, which conducts you to the loggia. Pass 
along this walk, enter the building, ascend another flight of stairs, and 
you are on the sacred spot so often trodden by Aloysius. Enter that 
modest door to the left; you stand between two sacred rooms: in the 
one St. John Berchmans gave, back his pure soul to its Creator; the 
other was sanctified by the virtues of St. Aloysius. Both these rooms 
are now converted into chapels. Pass onward from that of St. Aloy- 
sius, you enter a spacious hall. Here the scholastics if the Society 
were wont to meet, and here the voices once were heard of St Aloy- 
sius and St. John Berchmans. On the right there is the chapel. O 
blessed spot! Here we had the inestimable privilege of offering up 
the holy Sacrifice. Here, no noubt, the youthful saints had frequently 
received the Body of their Lord ; here, too, as we were told, St. Aloy- 
sius had made his vows. That chapel shall never be forgotten. It is 
a spot dearer to us than the room where the saintly youth lived, dear- 
er even than his tomb; for it was witness of those mysterious com- 
munings with his sacramental God, which, more than all else, rendered 
Aloysius a saint. 

The Colegio Romano was not the only place where the recollections 
of saintly Jesuits deeply impressed us, for one of the most pleasant 
days of our travels was that spent in the Scotch college, the old 
Jesuit college of Valladolid, in Spain. When we first directed our 
steps thither, we Avere not aware that we were about to visit a spot 
hallowed by so many memories. It was therefore to our great delight 
that we learned that within those very walls had lived the great as- 
cetic writer, Rodriguez, the incomparable theologian, Suarez, the 
saintly Louis de Ponte, and, probably, Father Alvarez. Father de 



THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



377 



Ponte died in that college, and his tomb may still be seen in the church. 
The interior of that part of the college which belongs to the Scotch 
ecclesiastics has undergone little change. The refectory is nearly in 
the same condition as when the Jesuits left it. We enjoyed the privi- 
lege ol saying Mass on the altar, where probably many illustrious 
sons of St. Ignatius had offered up the holy Sacrifice. 

It would be far beyond the limits of this work to attempt an enumer- 
ation of the eminent men, both in virtue and in science, that the 
Society of Jesus has given to the world. If we know the tree by its 
fruits, we must conclude that the Society must indeed be a good tree, 
or it could not have produced such good fruit. 

Even during the lifetime of St. Ignatius, Jesuit. missionaries .crossecl 
the At 1 iptic to carry with them the light of the Gospel. It belongs 
especially to our scope to mention their labors in what is now the ter- 
ritory ol the United States. In the sixteenth century they labored in 
Florida, together with the Dominicans, who, though their opponents 
in the theological field, had called them to their aid in the Lord's 
vineyard, and with the sons of St. Francis were the pioneer mission- 
aries of America. In 1612 two Jesuits founded the mission of St. 
Saviour on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine, but this 
settlement was infamously attacked by the English from Virginia. 
The Jesuits concerted the tribe of the Abenakis, in Maine, but here 
too they had to suffer from the English settlers of Massachusetts. 
The fierce Iroquois in New York state were next visited by the Jesu- 
its, some of whom, foremost being the martyr Father Jogues, fell 
victims to their zeal, but here again the English proved themselves 
their enemies. The Fathers of the Society labored among the Indian 
tribes in all the country around the great lakes. Father Marquette 
explored this region as far as the Mississippi. A modest monument 
erected at St. Ignace, on the straits of Mackinaw, marks the spot 
where his mortal remains once reposed. In Maryland, where, years 
before, Spanish Jesuits from Florida had labored and died as martyrs, 
Fathers White and Altham, who had accompanied Lord Baltimore, 
planted the cross again. 1 

While the Jesuit missionaries were laboring at the conversion of 
the heathen both in North and South America, the Society, in 1639, 
celebrated with great solemnity its first centennial anniversary. It 
then possessed more than eight hundred houses, divided into thirty- 
six provinces, in which there were more than fifteen thousand Jesuits. 
When another century had elapsed the Society was on the eve of great 
struggles and sufferings. After the Jansenist heresy had broken out 

1 See De Courcy and John Gilmary Shea. 



378 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



in France, the Jesuits showed themselves its implacable enemies, but 
drew upon themselves, in consequence, the hatred of those sectarians. 
One of them, De Fitz James, Bishop of Soissons, though openly their 
enemy, was forced to render the following testimony to truth: " We 
render," he says, "voluntarily to the Jesuits the justice of acknowledg- 
ing that there is no order in the Church of which the religious are more 
regular or more austere in their morals." Another writer, an implac- 
able adversary of the Church, the infamous Voltaire, also renders an 
excellent testimony to the masters whose unworthy pupil he had been. 
When there was question of suppressing the order in France, nearly 
all the bishops arose in its favor, declaring that it would be very diffi- 
cult to replace the Jesuits in their dioceses. 



SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 

THE storm had for some time been brewing in Europe, and under- 
currents were at work which would dash the bark of Ignatius de 
Loyola against the rocks. The fury of the tempest broke out first in 
Portugal. There was then in power in that country, as minister sec- 
letary of state for foreign affairs, a man w T ho owed his elevation prin- 
cipally to the Jesuit, Father Moreira, confessor of King Joseph I. In 
return for this favor, Pombal found pretexts for exiling several mem- 
bers of the order and for driving the Fathers away from their flourish- 
ing missions in Paraguay. Hell had begun to triumph for a time. 
On September 3, 1758, Joseph L was returning from a guilty rendez- 
vous with the marchioness of Tavora. An unsuccessful attempt was 
made on his life. Several persons, suspected of complicity in the 
crime, underwent capital punishment in consequence. Among these 
were the marquis and marchioness of Tavora and the Duke d'Aveiro. 
The latter being put to the torture, implicated several Jesuits as in- 
stigators, but he retracted when his torment had ceased. It was 
enough for Pombal. Three years later, Father Malagrida, under the 
accusation of heresy, was summoned before the tribunal of the inquisi- 
tion, over which the brother of Pombal presided. The Jesuit was 
condemned as a sorcerer, and burnt alive by auto-da-fe.^ on Sep- 
tember 21st, 1 761 . Two years before, all the Portuguese Jesuits had 
been declared accomplices of the attempted regicide. The consequence 
was that they were all thrown into prison. Writers of any importance, 
both Protestants and Catholics, have admitted the innocence of the 
Jesuits in this matter. However, Divine Providence permitted even 
the ecclesiastical authority to contribute towards their suffering. 
Benedict XIV. allowed himself to be drawn into the affair, and ordered 
a visit and reform of the order in Portugal. This mission was con- 
fided to Cardinal Saldanha, a protege of Pombal, who executed it in 
t 758. The following year Clement XIII. raised his voice in defence 
of the Society, approving and confirming it by Brief. This irritated 
Pombal, who thereupon dismissed the papal nuntius. The property 
of the Society was confiscated in Portugal, and its members, one hun- 
dred and thirty-three in number, were landed in Civita Vecchia in 
the Papal States. Their reception by the civil and religious authori- 

379 



380 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ties was most magnanimous. Above all others the Dominicans showed 
them hospitality. Other ships laden with Jesuits were at different 
intervals despatched from Portugal to the Papal States. The Jansen- 
ists were rejoiced. Before Pombal, fallen into disgrace, had ended his 
days, he saw the Jesuits whom he had persecuted, re-established in 
honor. But ere that happy event occurred the Society was to pass 
through the crucible of the most dire affliction. 

France, though blaming Pombal, was about to follow his example. 
Unfortunately a French Jesuit, animated, no doubt, by zeal for his neigh- 
bor, having become Superior of the missions in South America, made 
loans which unforeseen circumstances prevented him from meeting. 
In France the Society had powerful enemies, not the least being Ma- 
dame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis X\ r . The Jesuits were con- 
demned to pay the debts of Lavalette. Disavowing the conduct 
of the unfortunate man, they expelled him from the Society. Was 
Lavalette guilty or not; had he knowingly and wilfully transgressed 
the rules of the Society ; was he incorrigible ? If not, w r as his expulsion 
fair ; was it just to sacrifice him ? The answer to these questions must 
depend upon the special circumstances of the case, and the peculiar 
constitution of the Society of Jesus. At all events, his expulsion did 
not save the order. 

The process in which the Society thus became, complicated brought 
before the parliament, which always busied itself to a considerable 
extent with religious orders, the constitutions of the Jesuits. The 
spirit of their institute was criticised, and they were accused of being 
too faithful to it, contrary to what had been done in Portugal, where the 
accusation brought against them was that they had departed from it. 
Thus in France they were attacked for being too regular, in Portugal 
for being too irregular. A convention of the clergy having been called 
on November 30th, 1 761 , under the presidency of Cardinal de Luynes, 
all the members of the French episcopacy, with the exception of six, 
pronounced in favor of the Jesuits, and of the dissentients, Only the 
Jansenist bishop of Soissons demanded the entire expulsion of the So- 
ciety. In spite of the favor of the bishops the parliament began to 
take active measures against the Jesuits. The first blow struck was 
the suppression, in 1760, of the congregations they directed. This 
paralyzed a great portion of their usefulness. The commission ap- 
pointed to examine their constitutions, a member of which was the 
Abbe Chauvelin, a Jansenist, demanded that they should relinquish 
several points, but the sons of Loyola refused to yield an inch of their 
rule, making, however,. certain other concessions. In 1762 the great 
body of the French clergy, by the organ of Cardinal de la Roche- Ay- 



SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



381 



mon, Archbishop of Narbonne, petitioned the king for the preservation 
of the Jesuits, but all was useless. In November, 1764, the Society was 
suppressed in France, though its members were left free to remain in the 
country under the jurisdiction of the bishops. Four thousand Jesuits 
were declared expelled from the kingdom for not taking certain oaths 
demanded of them, although they continued to labor in many dioceses 
under assumed names. The eldest daughter of the Church persecuted 
the Society, but the Church itself, through the mouth of Pope Clement 
XIII., pronounced in its favor, declaring that their order was to the 
highest extent pious and holy. The moment had not yet arrived when 
they were to be deprived of this last support. 

Portugal had taken the initiative, France had followed, Spain now 
fell into the line of persecutors. Charles III., king of the last named 
country, had been the friend of the Jesuits, but suspicions against them 
were aroused in his mind through the instrumentality of his minister, 
de Aranda. Spain surpassed all other countries in its cruelty. On 
April 2, 1767, the Jesuits in all the Spanish possessions of both hem- 
ispheres were embarked at the same hour to be sent into exile. The 
heads of departments were threatened with the death sentence if, after 
that date, a single Jesuit, even though he were sick or dying, remained 
within the limits of their respective jurisdictions. Six thousand relig- 
ious of the Society were huddled on board the ships, and, in spite of 
the remonstrances of Clement XIII., sent away from their country. 
At the request of the Pope they were landed in Corsica, whence their 
enemy, the Duke de Choiseul, had them driven away. 

In Naples the Marquis Tanucci, minister of Ferdinand IV., drove 
the Jesuits away on the night of November 3, 1767. In 1768 they were 
sent out of the duchy of Parma. In the same year the Grand-Master 
of the Knights of Malta ejected them from that island, and to fill the 
measure, in 1769 they lost their friend and protector, Pope Clement 
XIII. If his successor, Clement XIV., had imitated his example ; if, 
alone, he had faced the storm, spreading the mantle of his protection 
over the persecuted children of Loyola, his name would have gone 
down to posterity as that of one of the greatest heroes of all times, but, 
alas ! for the weakness of human nature, the pressure brought to bear 
upon the Pope was too great. On July 21, 1773, he gave out the de- 
cree which suppressed the Society of Jesus. 

There was then living in the kingdom of Naples an old man, bent by 
the weight of years and of sufferings. In his little diocese of St. Agatha, 
he wept over the ruin of the Society. Poor Pope ! he was heard to ex- 
claim. The heart of the saint was deeply wounded, nor should the 
Jesuits of to-day ever forget the sympathy felt in the cause of the sup- 



382 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



pressed Jesuits of the last century by St. Alphonsus Maria de LiguorL 
Though he was unable to aid them, they owe him a debt of gratitude. 

At the time of its suppression, the Society was governed by Lawrence 
Ricci, of whom these remarkable words are cited. Speaking of his So- 
ciety, he was once heard to pronounce this unbending sentence: " Sint 
ut sunt, ant non sint, — They shall be as they are, or they shall not be." No 
modifications would be admitted in the institute of St. Ignatius. His 
predecessors in the government of the order since Tamburini had been 
Francis Retz, Ignatius Visconti, and Louis Centurioni. Father Ricci 
had been elected in 1758. By order of the Pope, he was, after the sup- 
pression, imprisoned in the castle of Sant Angelo. Pius VI. succeeded 
Clement XIV. He was a friend of the Jesuits, and yet he did not give 
back his liberty to the imprisoned General, who died on November 23,. 
1775, in the fullest sentiments of piety and resignation. The Pope, 
however, had him buried with honors and marks of distinction. Here 
now arises the question which history should answer : Why was Ricci im- 
prisoned ; why was he not immediately released from his captivity? 
Perhaps Pius VI. deemed it more prudent not to be hasty, for, about 
the time of the death of Father Ricci, the Pope had given orders to re- 
lease all Jesuits imprisoned in his states. The Jesuit General, dying, 
and about to receive the Viaticum, declared that the Society had given 
no cause for its suppression, and that he, in particular, had not deserved 
the rigor with which he had been treated, but that he nevertheless for- 
gave his persecutors. He did not, like the General of another order, 
James de Molais, Grand-Master of the Templars, cite them before the 
tribunal of God, but, like unto Him whose disciple he was, he forgave 
them when about to expire. 

Thus fell the Order of Jesuits, a victim to the hatred of its enemies, 
Jansenists, Libertines, Freemasons, and especially of a wicked woman, 
the mistress of Louis XV. To the credit of the Jesuits be it said that 
their greatest enemies have always been the enemies of faith and of 
morality. This alone is a sufficient refutation of the calumnies brought 
against, them. We do not pretend that the Society of Jesus had not 
its faults; what human society is free of all blame? But, on the oth- 
er hand, it cannot be denied that these were amply counterbalanced 
by its virtues. 

At the time of its suppression, the Society of Jesus, according to 
P. de Ravignan, 1 was divided into 41 provinces with 24 professed houses, 
669 colleges, 61 noviceships, 340 residences, 171 seminaries, and 271 
missions, with 1,542 churches. There were 22,589 members of the or- 
der, 1 1,293 of whom were priests. The void left by the Society could 

1 Clement XIII. et Clement XIV. 



SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



383 



not be filled. In China they left 300,000 Catholics; in India 120,000. 
In the latter country the number after the suppression was diminished 
by the half. In the New World, from Canada to La Plata, millions ol 
Indians were left without spiritual aid, not to mention the immense 
good affected in Europe, which was now suspended. Hell had indeed 
gained a signal victor}', and no wonder it is that the zealous heart of St 
Alphonsus groaned as he exclaimed : Poor Pope ! 



RESTORATION AND SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF 
THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 

THE Society of Jesus had been suppressed by a decree emanating- 
from the Holy See, wrung, as it were, from the Pope by the 
Catholic nations of Europe. It found protectors in quarters where they 
were least to be expected. Frederick II., king of Prussia, the infidel 
friend of Voltaire, determined to retain them in the Catholic provinces 
of Silesia. He declared that he had never found better priests, and 
that as men of letters, they could not, without great difficulty, be re- 
placed in the education of youth. This king urged the Jesuits to ap- 
point a Vicar-General and to constitute themselves into a religious so- 
ciety. They would not consent, but simply remained as secular priests, 
at the head of the colleges and of the University of Breslau. 

Catherine of Russia positively forbade the Catholic bishops in her 
dominions to publish the Brief of suppression or to give notice of it to 
the houses of the Society. She even obtained from Clement XIV. 
that his Brief should not be obligatory in the Russian provinces. 
With the permission of the bishop of Mohilow they even established a 
novitiate and continued to receive novices. Thus one link remained 
which united the Jesuits of the past to the Jesuits of the present. 

Paul I., emperor of Russia, requested of Pius VII. the canonical re- 
construction of the Society of Jesus in his dominions. The request 
was granted by a Brief of March 7th, 1801, and Father Gruber was 
appointed General of the Society. 

When the news of the re-establishment of the Society reached the 
shores of the New World, Bishop Carroll of Baltimore petitioned F. 
Gruber to re-admit the ex-Jesuits living in Maryland. The petition 
was acceded to, and several of them re-entered the Society, Father Moly- 
neux being appointed Superior. In a short time they received new ac- 
cessions from Europe, and the Society began to increase in the United 
States. 

Finally, on August 7th, 18 14, the Society of Jesus was re-established 
throughout the world by Pius VII. The Sovereign Pontiff went him- 
self to the church of the Gesu, where the Bull was read. Russia, 
which had thus far protected the Jesuits, now turned against them. 
The Emperor Alexander, urged on by the national clergy, banished 

384 



HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OFJESt S. 



385 



from his dominions those whom he had once protected. In other 
countries, however, in Austria, England, Ireland, Belgium, and France 
they went on increasing, and, as of yore, extended their usefulness to 
the lands of the heathen. Persecutions nevertheless were not want- 
ing, and in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Republics of South 
America, they have at various intervals had to endure the active 
hatred of the enemies of the Church. 

In the United States they waxed strong and most useful, founding 
colleges in the principal cities, and laboring at the conversion of the 
Indian tribes. Besides the Generals, Fathers Gruber and Brzozowski, 
who governed the Society in Russia, the Jesuits have had three Gen- 
erals, Fathers Roothaan, Beckx, and Anderledy. After the death of 
the latter, the office of General was vacant for a short time. In the 
general Congregation held recently at Loyola in Spain, a Spaniard, 
Father Martin, was elected, and he now occupies the office of General. 

We have thus summarily followed the history of the Jesuits from 
the days when St. Ignatius laid its foundations, down to the present 
time. There now remains for us to say a word on its spirit and its 
constitutions. The Society may be compared to a series of concen- 
tric circles, around a central point, the supreme authority of the Gen- 
eral. It was the will of St. Ignatius that the General should exercise his 
authority for life, and that he should be absolute master throughout 
the entire Society. The provincials, superiors of the professed houses, 
and novitiate, and the rectors of colleges, were to receive their ap- 
pointment from him. Fie was to be the head and the heart of the So- 
ciety, and the provincials were to send him periodical reports of the 
condition of their subjects. St. Ignatius gave to the General four as- 
sistants, but several others were added at a later period, representing 
the various nations among which the Society exists. At present 
there is also an assistant for the English-speaking races. Besides the 
assistants there is also an admonitor, whose office it is to place before 
the General his faults, or any irregularity of conduct. 

The members of the Society of Jesus are divided into three differ- 
ent categories : the professed, the formed coadjutors, and the approved 
scholastics. Besides these, there are the novices who form, as it 
were, the outer circle, and stand in the vestibule of the Society. The 
professed members constitute essentially the order of Jesuits and the 
core of the Society ; they are regulars in a canonical sense, being* 
bound by solemn vows. Only those who have, for a longer or short- 
er period, shown themselves worthy and reliable members of the So- 
ciety, are admitted to this degree. They are divided into two classes, 
namely, the professed of four and those of only three vows. The former 



386 



HIS TOE I OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



promise special obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff in regard to foreign 
missions. I 

There are also two classes of coadjutors: spiritual and temporal, 
the former being the priests, the latter the lay-brothers of the Society. 
Their vows are simple, but the}' are accepted by the General or by some 
one delegated to that effect. The scholastics, or students, also take 
simple vows, but no one is deputed by the General to receive them. 

Postulants for the order are first tried for a month, being obliged to 
perform the spiritual exercises and make a general confession. After 
this they receive the habit and begin their novitiate, which lasts two 
years, during which time they apply themselves to learning the spirit 
of the Institute. After the novitiate, those who are clerics spend many 
years in study and in teaching before they are admitted to the priest- 
hood. At a time determined by the Superiors they pass through a 
third year of novitiate, called the Third Probation, during which they 
apply themselves entirely to the exercises of the spiritual life. With 
all this preparation, one may in truth say that, if a Jesuit, when 
launched out upon the ministry, is not a solid and thoroughly equipped 
religious, it is not the fault of the Society. During the time of prep- 
aration he has been schooled in a spirit almost military. He has 
been taught to reason, perhaps, somewhat at the expense of the sen- 
sitive faculties ; he has had the opportunity of obtaining a wonderful 
amount of self control, and he has been drilled in the exercise of that 
prudence so characteristic of the Society. Pie has been moulded to 
such an extent that the state of his soul frequently casts a special and 
unmistakable reflection upon his countenance. He has, especially, 
acquired an unbounded love for the Society of Jesus. In order not to 
lose the spirit of his institute, he is bound to certain daily exercises, 
but, unlike many other religious, to the recitation of few vocal 
prayers. There is for him no choral recitation of the Divine 
Office. The community comes together in the evening for the 
recitation of the Litanies in common. The other spiritual exercises 
are performed alone. The morning meditation, which lasts an 
hour, is considered essential. . Great stress is also laid on the par- 
ticular examination of conscience before dinner, nor must it be 
gone through in a perfunctory manner. The rest of his time the 
Jesuit spends in the performance of his special duties. No bodily 
mortifications are prescribed by the Rule, these being left to ihe in- 
dividuals and the discretion of the spiritual directors. However, the 
Jesuit is not thrown upon his own resources, the vigilant eyes of the 
Society being constantly upon him. He is surrounded by various safe^ 
guards which counteract the inconstancy of human nature. A spirit- 



HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



387 



ual Father in each community watches over the souls of its members. 

The Society requires of its children the greatest openheartedness in 
the account of conscience, in which each one manifests his soul to his 
Spiritual Director or Superior. He is also watched, lest allowing him- 
self to be overcome by sloth, he neglect his spiritual exercises. 

The Jesuits have no distinctive habit, but adapt themselves to cir- 
cumstances ; in the United States, they wear the clerical garb of the six- 
teenth century ; in France, Belgium, Spain, and some other countries 
they are clad in the ordinary clerical habit of those regions, though 
distinguished by some slight mark, for instance, the absence of the 
white collar. 




URSULINES. 



HELYOT, in beginning the chapter in which he treats of this order, 
makes the remark that it is similar to those of St. Benedict, St, 
Augustin, and St. -Francis, in this that it has produced various congre- 
gations which by the diversity of their habit and of their manner of 
living, form, as it were, so many different orders. And, as in the Order 
of St. Francis, there are Tertiaries who either live in community or 
alone, without binding themselves by solemn vows, thus there are 
Ursulines who take only simple vows, some living in community and 
others privately. It was, properly speaking, only this latter class that 
St. Angela instituted in the year 1537, as it was her desire that her 
daughters should live in the houses of their parents. 

St. Angela was born at- Dezenzano, on Lake Garda, where she also 
spent the first years of her life in great innocence and piet}^. After 
the death of a tenderly beloved sister, who had been the companion of 
her virtues, her prayers, and her mortifications, she took the habit of 
the Third Order of St. Francis, although an author, Paryayre, an Augus- 
tinian, maintains that it was the Third Order of St. Augustin she had 
embraced. After a pilgrimage made to the Holy Land and to Rome, 
she finally settled at Brescia, where in 1537 she began her institute, 
being only twenty-six years of age. Her object was one of the great- 
est activity. She desired not to found a cloister, but an institution 
of women, who, mingling with the world, should become the salt of 
the earth. Hence it was her wish that its members should continue 
to live in the world, edifying it both by word and example. They 
were to seek for those in affliction in order to console and instruct 
them, help the poor, visit the hospitals, nurse the sick, and undertake 
all manner of charitable works. She also wisely ordained that the 
mode of life she had instituted should be modified whenever the 
exigencies of the times rendered it desirable. Thus in its origin the 
Ursuline order was simply an association of pious women whose 
object it was to do good. 

Seventy- three young women joined St. Angela in this good work, 
and the result in the city of Brescia was one most beneficial to the state 
of religion. They with common consent elected St. Angela the Super- 
ior. The saint persuaded them to place the institution under the pro- 

388 



URSU LINE NUNS 



URSU LINES. 



389 



tection of St. Ursula, who herself had once been at the head of a host 
of virgins. Thus came the order to be designated as the Company of 
St. Ursula, though the people had at first bestowed upon it the title 
of the Divine Company. The saint having thus founded this institute 
and given to it rules for its guidance, departed this life on March 21st, 
1540. Four years after her death Pope Paul III. confirmed the order 
under the title she had chosen, that of Company of St. Ursula. The 
Sovereign Pontiff declared it canonically established, and gave to its 
Superiors the power of altering whatever they deemed fit according 
to the necessities of time and place. St. Charles Borromeo held the 
members of this institute in the highest esteem, and having been 
called to Milan, they soon reached the number of four hundred. At 
the request of the holy Cardinal, Gregory XIII, again approved the 
institute, granting to it new privileges which were still further increased 
by Sixtus V. and Paul V. In course of time several Ursulines 
banded together in communities, while others continued to live 
separately, and of those who formed communities many embraced the 
religious state and became nuns in the full sense of the word. 

In France the institution commenced as it had done in Italy. In 
1574 Francoise de Bermond engaged, in the city of Avignon, twenty or 
twenty-five young ladies to take charge of the instruction of youth 
according to the institution of St. Angela. They lived separately 
until 1596, when by the persuasion of Father Cesar de Bus, founder 
of the Fathers of the Christian Doctrine, they began to dwell together, 
forming their first community at Lille, in the county of Venaissim 
The Mere de Bermond afterwards established a community at Aix and 
another at Marseilles, these three being the source whence the Ursu- 
lines spread throughout France. 

Francoise de Bermond is thus justly entitled to the honor of being 
the foundress of the Ursulines in France. She was born at Avignon in 
1572, and by her parents consecrated to the Blessed Virgin. Her 
first inclinations were all on the side of virtue, but the reading of cer- 
tain profane histories weaned her heart from heavenly things, and 
for a time she gave herself to the world and its vanities. However, 
the influence of a very pious aunt, whom she loved dearly, caused her re- 
turn to piety and the practise of virtue. Meanwhile the spirit of evil 
filled her imagination with that dread of a pious life which so many 
young persons of her sex have to encounter. He pictured it to her 
as a sad and melancholy existence that would kill her. However, she 
conquered his insinuations, and at the age of fourteen made a vow of 
chastity. Her example drew after her the former companions of her 
vanity, and even from that time they began among other holy exercises^ 



390 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



to teach Christian doctrine. The first thought of imitating the Ursu- 
lines of Italy entered their mind through the instrumentality of Dom- 
inic Grimaldi, Archbishop of Avignon. The daughter of the Baron of 
Vaucleuse, having made a vow of virginity, received from him the 
book of the constitutions of the Ursulines of Milan. This she showed 
to Father Romillon, a member of the congregation of Christian Doc- 
trine, who was her Director as well as of Mile. Bermond. The good 
Father made the book known to this young lady and her companions, 
and they expressed the desire to embrace the same institute. Here- 
upon they rented a house at Lille in the county of Venaissin, and the 
daughter of the Baron of Vaucleuse undertook to furnish it and pay 
the rent, and promised to join them after arranging certain family mat- 
ters. In this house Francoise de Bermond began to lead a community 
life. Father Romillon directed the new community, of which the 
members took the vow of obedience, binding themselves to obe}^ him 
as their Superior. Other establishments followed that of Lille, such 
as those of Aix and Marseilles. A colony of these Ursulines was 
brought to Paris in 1604 through the instrumentality of Madame Ac- 
arie, to whom also the Discalced Carmelite nuns owe their introduc- 
tion into France, who herself became a Carmelite, and who is now 
known in the Church as Blessed Mary of the Incarnation. Mother 
Francoise de Bermond, being at Marseilles, was called to Paris to 
take charge of the infant community. The temporal means for this 
establishment was furnished by Madame de Sainte-Beuve, widow of 
Claude le Rona de Sainte-Beuve, counsellor of the Parliament of Paris, 
whom death had taken from her about three years after her mar- 
riage. From the day of his death she consecrated herself entirely to 
the service of God. Those who governed the little community had, 
at first, no other intention save that of founding an establishment 
similar to those which existed in Provence, but Madame de Sainte- 
Beuve declared that it had been her wish from the beginning to estab- 
lish a community of cloistered nuns with solemn vows. The respect in 
which she was held caused .all concerned to agree with her. There 
being no monastic community of this institution, the Superiors, to- 
gether with certain religious, especially the Fathers of the Society of 
Jesus, arranged a plan of one which was to be inserted in a petition 
addressed to Pope Paul V. by Madame de Sainte-Beuve. On June 
13, 1612, Pope Paul V. granted a Bull authorizing the foundation of the 
monastery of Paris under the Rule of St. Augustin and the invocation 
of St. Ursula, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Paris. 
The Sovereign Pontiff at the same time decreed that the members of 
the community should bind themselves by a fourth vow, that of instruct- 



URSU LINES. 



391 



ing little girls. The Ursulines of Provence having heard of this 
arrangement, recalled their foundress, Mother Franicose de Bermond, 
who would gladly have embraced the religious state in Paris. Sev- 
eral nuns were obtained from the abbey of St. Stephen of Soissons to 
instruct the new religious at Paris in their duties. They governed the 
convent until 1623, when they returned home, and the Ursulines 
elected their own Superior. It was in this manner that the Ursulines 
first became religious in a canonical sense. 

Mother Frangoise de Bermond, having left Paris, founded a new 
community at Lyons in 1610. Here she lived as Superior until 1619, 
when the Archbishop of Lyons, Denis de Marquemont, proposed to 
the Sisters to adopt and institute the enclosure. It was his desire to 
erect the house into a monastery. A Bull to that effect was obtained 
from the Pope, and the enclosure was established in 1620. Thus did 
Mother de Bermond and her companions become religious with sol- 
emn vows, and this was the beginning of the Ursuline Congregation of 
Lyons. After the death of Mother de Bermond, which occurred on 
February 19, 1628, it spread rapidly and obtained a vast number of 
monasteries. 

The Ursuline Monastery of Paris became also the corner-stone of a 
congregation, that of Paris. Mother Cecilia de Belloy, the first one to 
make the religious profession as an Ursuline, was also the first to con- 
tribute towards the extension of the order by founding a monastery 
at Abbeville in Picardy, and others. The Congregation of Paris con- 
tinued thus to increase, and even obtained foundations in Germany. 
Several monasteries of the Congregations of Lyons and of Dijon 'also 
associated themselves to that of Paris. 

A disciple of Mother Francoise de Bermond, Mother Margaret de 
Vigier, had founded a community of Ursulines at Toulouse in 1604. 
The members of the community took the three simple vows of relig- 
ion until 161 5, when a Brief of Paul V. erected it into a regular mon- 
astery of the Order of St. Augustin, with all the privileges of that or- 
der, and thus gave rise to the Congregation of Toulouse. 

The Congregation of Bordeaux owes its origin to the Cardinal de 
Sourdis, Archbishop of that city, who having made the acquaintance 
of the Ursulines at Avignon and at Milan, desired to possess a similar 
institution in his diocese. He established one in 1606 with Mother 
Francoise de Zazeres as its first member. Other communities went 
out from this one, and, in 161 8, a Bull of Paul V. erected them into reg- 
ular monasteries with solemn vows. This congregation became the 
most extensive of all those established by the Ursulines. It spread to 
Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, and Canada. 



392 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The Congregation of Dijon commenced in 1619. Fourteen years 
before, certain young ladies had begun to imitate the manner of life 
of the Ursulines of Italy. Some time later they entered into the life 
of community, and, in 1619, Paul V. admitted them to the state of re- 
ligion. Other Ursuline Congregations were those of Tulle, founded 
in 1614 by Mother Antoinette Micolon, Aries, established about 1624, 
the County of Burgundy, and that called of the Presentation. The Con- 
gregation of the County of Burgundy was founded about 1606 by 
Mother Ann de Xaintonje, who took the Society of Jesus as her mod- 
el, binding her Sisters by the three simple vows of poverty, chastity, 
and obedience. They were not bound to enclosure, but were allowed 
to go out under certain conditions. Whenever their houses were in a 
place where there existed Fathers of the Society of Jesus, they were 
bound to go to confession to these, but they might choose among them 
any confessor they pleased. When there were no Jesuits near them, 
they confessed to secular Priests, but, in matters of importance, con- 
sulted the nearest Jesuits. The foundress of this congregation had 
drawn her rules from those of St. Ignatius, whose exercises the Sisters 
were obliged to follow each year for a week. 

A monastery of Ursulines was founded- in Rome in the beginning of 
the seventeenth century. Its members took no vows, nor did they ob- 
serve enclosure, but nevertheless they followed monastic observances. 
Several other communities, formed more or less on the same plan, were 
established in Italy. 

The various Ursuline congregations differed from one another, not 
only in their habit, but also in their observances. The constitutions 
of that of Paris were approved in 1640 by John Francis de Gondi, Arch- 
bishop of that city. The choir-sisters take a fourth vow of instructing 
young girls. They recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin in choir, 
with the exception of certain days, when they say the Great Office. They 
wear a leathern cincture around their waist, like the members of the 
Order of St. Augustin. The nuns of the Congregation of Toulouse 
wear white, except on Sundays and solemn occasions, when they are 
clad in black. They recite the office of the Church. The members 
of the Congregation of Bordeaux recite the office of Our Lady only on 
feast days, and on other days the Rosary. According to the formu- 
la of their vows, it appears that these nuns not only follow the Rule of 
St. Augustin, but also belong to the order of that -saint. They are 
clad in black. 

The institution of the Ursulines, like other orders of the Church, was 
founded at a time when it was most needed. This accounts lor its rap- 
id extension. In the sixteenth century the conviction existed at Rome 



URSULINES. 



393 



that the cloistered life was incompatible with the education of chil- 
dren. For this reason the Congregation of Notre Dame, founded by 
Blessed Peter Fourier, experienced great difficulty in obtaining its ap- 
probation. The Ursulines began what so many other congregations 
have since followed, namely, to lead a religious life without the cloister. 
It is true that most of them afterwards adopted the enclosure, but as 
they still continued to devote themselves to the education of youth, 
a duty which but few female religious at that time performed, their 
success was immense, they possessing almost the monopoly of this 
work of mercy. 

Unfortunately, many of the Ursuline nuns in France became con- 
taminated with the heresy of Jansenius, and obstinately resisted the 
authority of the Church. However, the party faithful to their duty re- 
mained in the majority. 

At the French Revolution this order was most edifying in its fidel- 
ity to the Church, and was dispersed together with other religious in- 
stitutions. During the reign of Bonaparte, the Ursulines began again 
to assemble, and, at a later period, many communities were established 
belonging to the congregations of Paris and Bordeaux. After the Rev- 
olution, a kindred community was founded in La Vendee under the 
title of the Ursulines of Jesus. 

The Ursulines crossed the Atlantic as early as the year 1639. Mad- 
ame Madeleine de la Peltrie, having been inspired with the thought of 
consecrating her goods to the education of young Canadian girls, obtain- 
ed for this purpose two Ursuline religious from the convent of Tours. 
They were Marie Guyard, called Sister of the Incarnation, who has since 
been beatified, and Sister Saint Joseph. With these two, and a third 
member of the Ursuline order, Madame de la Peltrie embarked for the 
New World on May 4, 1639. On their arrival at Quebec they took 
up their abode in a small house on the banks of the river, where they 
lived very poorly. In 1641 they entered their new monastery on the 
site where the Ursuline convent of Quebec stands to-day. In the 
neighboring forest. Blessed Mary of the Incarnation gathered the 
Indian girls around her to instruct them in the truths of our Holy Re- 
ligion. The last tree of this forest existed until June 19, 1850, when it 
fell under the weight of its years. A rule was composed for the Ur- 
sulines of Quebec in 1647 by Father Jerome Lallemant, of the Society 
of Jesus, and this they observed until 1682, when they became affiliated 
to the Congregation of Paris. Some years before, in 1650, their con- 
vent had been destroyed by fire. A new convent was constructed, 
but a second time it fell a victim to the flames, namely, in the year 
1686. A few years before this last catastrophe, the soul of Blessed 



394 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Mary of the Incarnation had broken its fetters and soared to another 
and better world. Her death occurred on August 30, 1672. The chap- 
el of the Ursulines of Quebec possesses the tomb of the Marquis of 
Montcalm, who died in 1759. The widow of the illustrious Samuel 
Champlain became a nun at Meaux in France in 1648. 

A colony of Ursulines went forth from Quebec on October 8th, 
1697, to take charge of a hospital founded at Three Rivers on the St. 
Lawrence by Mgr. de St. Valier, Bishop of the former city. They were 
five in number, four professed and one lay-sister. Twice the convent 
was destroyed by fire : once in 1752, and again in 1806. 

A community of Ursuline nuns had been founded in Louisiana, in 
the city of New Orleans, in the year 1727, by Mother Mary Franche- 
pain, a convert from Protestantism, through the influence of F. de 
Beaubois, a Jesuit. At the cession of Louisiana to the United States, 
eighteen of its religious removed to Havana, and the community fell 
into a state of decay, only six Sisters being left. Several years later, the 
Bishop of New Orleans, Mgr. Dubourg, petitioned Mgr. Plessis, Bish- 
op of Quebec, for some of his religious. Three nuns from last named 
city, Sister Felicite Borne, St. Charles; Marie Angelique Bougie, St. 
Louis de Gonzague ; and Marie Pelagie Morin, St. Etienne, left for 
New Orleans on May 13th, 1823. 

. The community of Quebec also came to the succor of an establish- 
ment at Galveston, Texas, a branch community of that of New Orleans, 
established in 1846. It only possessed five Sisters, when Mgr. Odin, 
Bishop of Galveston, on the occasion of a voyage to Quebec, in 1849, 
obtained two religious from that city, namely, Sister Victoria White, 
Saint Jane de Chantal, and Sister Catherine Barbe, St. Thomas. 

From 1 8 16 to 18 19 the community of Three Rivers gave hospitality 
to four Ursulines whom Mr. Thayer of Boston, who from a Protest- 
ant minister had become a Catholic Priest, had brought from Ireland, 
into which country they had been introduced from France in 1771. 
Their first convent was founded at Cork in Ireland. These Sisters were 
formed to the rules of their institute in the convent of Three Rivers. 
Having arrived at Boston, they soon fell sick, and in 1824 all four had 
succumbed. Before the death of the last one, the Vicar-General of Bos- 
ton had written to the Bishop of Quebec to obtain re-enforcements. On- 
ly one was sent, namely, Sister St. George, born Muffett. She organ- 
ized the community of Boston, and she wastenyears in that city, when 
the memorable nth of August, 1834, dawned. A mob, worked up to 
the highest state of fanaticism, laid the monastery of Mount Benedict 
in ashes, and deprived those helpless women of their home. One of 
the nuns died in consequence, and the Superior became seriously 



UBS U LINE 8. 



395 



ill. After the castastrophe the Ursulines were for some time hospita- 
bly entertained by the Sisters of Charity. They afterwards left for 
Quebec. All their efforts to return to Massachusetts being in vain, 
they divided themselves among the monasteries of Quebec, Three 
Rivers, and New Orleans. Thus ended the community of Mount 
Benedict, the blackened ruins of which the author of this work beheld 
only a few years ago. The property has since been sold. A monu- 
ment ought to have been erected on the spot as a lesson for future 
generations. The burning of that convent is one of the stains upon 
thefair history of our beloved country. It is good from time to time to 
see ourselves as others see us. I here translate a few remarks taken 
from the fourth volume of Migne's Dictionary of religious orders: 
" We see that the intolerance of the citizens of New England has not 
changed. In 1834 they destroyed a monastery ; in 1855, (about the 
time when this was written) they insult nuns, and their legislators 
penetrate the interior of the convents, lay their hands upon the ser- 
vants of the Lord, and in their scandalous investigations respect 
neither the sanctity of the chapel nor the shame of sickness. This is 
the progress that the Americans of our days have made on the road 
of civilization, and these are the sentiments of the predominant party 
of that nation to which certain wicked Canadians would like to see 
their country annexed." 

Alas ! when we reflect upon the sad scenes of the days of Know-Noth- 
ingism, it would appear as though we deserved the reproaches thus 
inflicted upon us. But with all we protest against the imputations of 
the author cited, in so far as they apply to Americans in general, or 
even to the better portion of our fellow-citizens. They are as unjust 
as we would be were we to impute to the French people in general 
the persecution of the religious orders which, in these latter years, has 
existed in France. People who dwell in glass houses ought not to 
throw stones. 

In 1834 Bishop England introduced the Ursuline nuns into Charles- 
ton, S. C, where they began a convent and academy near the cathe- 
dral. They afterwards removed to Valle Crucis, near Columbia. The 
present community is very small. Bishop Rappe of Cleveland brought 
Ursulines from France into his diocese about the year 1848, and they 
soon after obtained a foundation at Cincinnati. 

The Ursuline order had been brought from Ireland, where it had 
been established in 1771, to New York, where the Sisters opened an 
academy and poor-school about the year 18 12. Their convent was 
near Third Avenue, and what is now 50th St. They had for some 
time the Trappist monks as their chaplains. These nuns had come 



396 



HIST OR Y OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



to New York with the express understanding that if in three years 
they did not receive a certain number of novices, they should return 
to Ireland. They were incorporated by an act of the Legislature on 
March 26th, 18 14. However, as they found no vocations, and as those 
who would have entered among them could not afford the dowry they 
required, they left New York at the expiration of the term agreed 
upon. It was not until 1855 that the order again obtained a foot- 
hold in New York, being introduced from St. Louis, where Bishop 
Dubourg had founded a community before the year 1824. A small 
Ursuline community has lately been established in the midst of many 
difficulties in the city and diocese of Sioux Falls, S. Dakota. 




NUNS OF ST. MICHAEL 



ORDER OF SAINT CAM1LLUS DE LELLIS. 



SERVANTS OF THE SICK. 

THE spirit of God, from the beginning of the Church, has moved the 
souls of men in various directions, and caused them to advance 
along different roads. Some it called to the deep and profound soli- 
tude of the monastic cloister, while it sent others out into the busy 
world to labor lor the good of men. The external works to which 
these active souls were devoted were of the most varied kinds ; preach- 
ing the word of God and the work of the ministry in general formed 
the occupation of some, the teaching of youth that of others ; some 
devoted themselves to the care of pilgrims and strangers, while the 
nursing of the sick engaged others. To this latter class belong the 
religious of the order which now occupies our attention. 

The founder, St. Camillus de Lellis, was born in the year 1550 at 
Bucchianico in Abruzzo, in the kingdom of Naples. At an early age 
Camillus entered the Venetian army, and afterwards served among 
the Neapolitan troops, till in 1574 his company was disbanded. He 
had meanwhile contracted a violent passion for cards and gaming, 
which caused him to lose much. Reduced at length to such straits, he 
was obliged to drive two asses, and to work at a building which belonged 
to the Capuchin Friars. A moving exhortation which the guardian 
of the convent one day made him completed his conversion. He de- 
tested his sinful life, and cried to Heaven for mercy. This happened 
in February, 1575. He now entered the novitiate of the Capuchins, 
but could not be admitted to his profession on account of a wound in 
his leg, which was judged incurable. He next essayed the Gray Fri- 
ars, but he was obliged to leave them for the same reason. 

Camillus now repaired to Rome, where he served the sick in St. James' 
Hospital of Incurables four years. He wore a knotty hair-shirt 
and a rough brass girdle next his skin, and watched night and day 
with the greatest attention about the sick, especially those that were 
dying. During this period St. Philip Neri was his confessor. The ad- 
ministrators, witnessing his charity, prudence, and piety, after some 
time appointed him Director of the hospital. 

Beholding the negligence of hired servants, Camillus formed a 

project of associating certain pious persons desirous of devoting them- 

397 



398 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



selves to the care of the sick, out of a motive of fervent charity. He 
found such persons, but met with great obstacles in the execution of his 
design. He now resolved to receive Holy Orders, and forthat purpose 
went through a course of studies with great ardor. He was ordained by 
Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph's, Suffragan to Cardinal 
Savelli, the Bishop vicegerent in Rome, under Pope Gregory XIII. 
His ordination to the priesthood occurred at Whitsuntide in 1584, and 
being nominated to serve a little chapel called Our Lady ad miracula, 
he gave up the direction of the hospital. Before the end of the year 
helaid the foundation of his congregation, giving to its members a long, 
black habit. He prescribed certain short rules lor them, and every day 
they went to the hospital of the Holy Ghost, where they served the 
sick, making the beds of the patients, paying them every office of char- 
ity, and disposing them for the last sacraments. He ordained that 
the members of his congregation should bind themselves by the obli- 
gation of their institute, to serve persons infected with the plague, pris- 
oners, and those who lie dying in private houses. In 1585 his friends 
hired lor him a large house. 

Pope Sixtus V. confirmed the congregation in 1586, and ordered 
that it should be governed by a triennial Superior. Camillus w r as the 
first incumbent of this office, and Roger, an Englishman, was one of his 
first companions. The church of St. Mary Magdalen was given him 
for the use of his congregation. He soon after founded a new house 
in Naples, where two of the members died of the pestilence while at- 
tending to the plague-stricken on board the gallies. 

In 1 591 Gregory XV. erected this congregation into a religious 
order, with all the privileges of Mendicant orders, and under the 
obligation of the four vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and per- 
petually serving the sick, even those infected with the plague. He for- 
bade its members to pass over to any other order except to that of 
the Carthusians. Pope Clement VIII. , in 1592, and, in 1600, again 
confirmed this order, with additional privileges. 

The religious of the order are not obliged to recite the Divine Office 
unless they are in Holy Orders ; they confess and communicate every Sun- 
day and great holy-days, they have daily an hour's meditation, hear 
Mass, and recite the litany and the rosary, and perform other devotions. 
St. Camillus founded several religious houses in various portions of 
Italy, and sent several of his religious to Hungary and to other places 
which in his time were afflicted with the plague. He laid down the 
generalship in 1607, that he might be more at leisure to serve the poor. 
He assisted at the fifth general chapter of his order in Rome, in 1613, 
and after it, with the new General, visited the houses in Lombardy. 



ORDER OF ST. C A MILL US DB LELLIS. 



399 



St. Camillus de Lellis exchanged this life for a better one on July 
14th, 1614. 1 

At his death the order consisted of sixteen houses in Italy and other 
countries. In the short time since its foundation it had lost more 
than two hundred and twenty religious who died of different diseases, 
contracted by them in the service of the sick. 

Besides the four solemn vows, the Servants of the Sick take also 
four simple vows : first, never to change anything or permit any change 
in regard to the manner of attending the sick, except for the sake of a 
greater good ; secondly, never to consent that the order should possess 
anything belonging to the hospital ; third, never to seek any dignity 
outside the order, nor even accept it without a dispensation of the 
Pope, and, fourth, to inform the Superiors if they become aware that 
any one is seeking such dignities. 

The general chapter of the order, in which the General and his four 
consultors are elected, meets every six years. Besides the Fathers, 
the order possesses also lay-brothers, who are equally bound by sol- 
emn vows, and Oblates, who take only simple vows, and who are em- 
ployed in domestic duties. 

1 See Alban Butler, — Lives of the Saints. 




REGULAR CLERICS-MINORS. 



THIS is one of those orders which, like so many of the modern ones, 
owe their existence to a preconceived idea, rather than to a 
spontaneous growth. It first took root in the mind of Giovanni- 
Augustino Adorno, a member of the ancient Genoese family of that 
name, to which also the husband of St. Catherine of Genoa belonged. 
Adorno, having bid adieu to the vanities of the world and become a 
priest, felt within himself the inspiration to found a new order, in 
which the active life should be united with that of contemplation. 
Having spent fprty days in solitude and penance in the desert of Val- 
lombrosa, the conviction took possession of him that it was God's will 
that such an order should be established by him. Two noblemen of 
Naples, Francis and Augustin Carraccioli, entering into his views, he 
departed for Rome with the former, in order to obtain permission for 
his work from Pope Sixtus V. By the influence of their friends and 
relatives in Rome, they obtained from the Sovereign Pontiff a Brief, 
■dated July ist, 1588, which permitted them to establish an order of Reg- 
ular Clerics, to take solemn vows, choose a Superior, and make rules 
for the government of the order. And, as the Pope had been a mem- 
ber of the Order of St. Francis, he gave to them the title of Minors. 

Returning to Naples, they laid the foundations of their institute in the 
church of St. Agnes. Gregory XIV., in 1 591 , granted them the privi- 
leges of the Theatines, and Paul V. made them participants in the 
privileges of the other religious orders. 

Adorno, whose life was one of great virtue, and who was wont to 
spend several hours daily in prayer, went to Spain to endeavor to in- 
troduce the order into that country, but his efforts were not crowned 
by success, and it was only after his death that it obtained establish- 
ments in Spain. Worn out by fatigue and austerities, Adorno 
died in Naples on September 21st, 1 591. Francis Carraccioli, a man 
of deep humility and austerity, succeeded him as Superior. He died on 
June 4th, 1608. 1 The third founder, Augustin Carraccioli, who had left 
a rich abbey to join Adorno, refused to accept the position of General, 
as he preferred being a subject to exercising superiority. His death 
occurred on May 28th, 161 5. 

1 St. Francis Carraccioli was canonized by Pius VII. in 1807. 

400 



REGULAR CLERICS-MINORS. 



401 



In the beginning of the order, the General was elected for life, then 
for a term of six years ; but Pope Alexander VII. decreed that the for- 
mer practice should be revived, and that henceforth the General 
should be perpetual. 

The members of this order, besides the ordinary solemn vows, also 
bind themselves never to seek for any office outside of their institute. 
They also swear to covet no dignity within the order. They practise 
several exercises of piety and mortification common to other religious 
orders, and have this characteristic exercise which they call circular, 
and which consists in their taking turns in the practise of an hour's 
mental prayer and of certain acts of mortification, so that there is al- 
ways one religious engaged in these exercises. They devote them- 
selves to various works of the ministry for the good of their neighbor. 
They possessfourkinds of houses : the houses of exercises, in which they 
labor in the ministry; the novitiates, where the members of the order 
are trained; the colleges, where they devote themselves to the work of 
education, and the hermitages, or houses of absolute seclusion. The 
latter are optional, nor can the Superior oblige a religious to take up 
his abode within them. Their habit resembles that of other Regular 
Clerics, with the exception that they wear a leathern girdle, and that 
their sleeves are wider. 

The order has produced a number of men distinguished by the 
sanctity of their lives and by their writings. 



REGULAR CLERICS OF THE MOTHER OF GOD, ' 
OR OF THE PIOUS SCHOOLS. 

THE founder of this order was St. Joseph Calasanctius, born at Per- 
alta de la Sal, in the kingdom of Aragon, on September i ith, 1556. 
He followed the courses of philosophy and law at the University 
of Lerida, and studied theology at Valencia and at Alcala de Henares, 
in which latter place he received the degree of doctor. After many dif- 
ficulties he had to encounter on the part of his father, he became a 
priest in December, 1582. His reputation for virtue soon increased 
to such an extent that the Bishop of Lerida chose him as confessor, 
and appointed him his theologian and synodal examiner. The same 
prelate took Calasanctius with him as his secretary on a canonical 
visit he made by order, of the Pope to the monastery of Montserrat. 
After the death of this bishop, he filled for eight years an important 
position in the diocese of Urgel. In May, 1592, he went to Rome and 
became theologian to Cardinal Marco- Antonio Colonna. In this city 
he led a most pious and austere life, and became a member of several 
confraternities, and particularly of that of the Christian Doctrine. In 
this capacity he went through the city to instruct the country people, 
and he gathered the children together in the churches to perform the 
same office of charity towards them. This exercise taught him the 
necessity of instructing the children at an early age in the great prin- 
ciples of Christianity. Seeing one day some children playing in the 
street, who made use of much bad language, he stopped to gaze at 
them. His reflection brought him to the conclusion that God desired 
him to devote himself to the education of such children. Finding no 
one willing to second him in this arduous enterprise, he resolved to 
undertake it alone. To this end he rented several apartments in the 
Trastevere, where be gathered together children, to whom he taught 
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to whom he furnished gratu- 
itously, books, ink, and paper. Twice a day he went to his school from 
the palace of Colonna, a great distance. Not being able to suffice 
alone to the accomplishment of this task, he associated to himself sev- 
eral priests, also members of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. 
His schools soon obtained such a reputation that several families of 
the city sent their children to him to be educated. This was cause 

402 



REG ULAR CLERICS OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 403 



that, about the year 1600, he transferred his schools into the city, hav- 
ing rented a large house for the purpose. He now left the palace of 
Colonna to take up his abode in this place with those who had joined 
him in the good work. Two years later they changed their residence 
to another place near the church of Sant' Andrea della V alle. There he 
began a community life with his companions. Clement VIII., having 
heard of Calasanctius and his work, sent for him, promised to visit 
the schools in person, and ordered that a yearly allowance of two 
hundred scuti should be given him for the rent of the house. 

This generosity of the Pope excited great jealousy among the 
other teachers of the city, who began to complain to the Sovereign 
Pontiff that matters were not as had been represented to him. Here- 
upon the Pope appointed the Cardinals Antoniani and Baronius to 
visit the schools of Calasanctius. Their report having been satisfac- 
tory, the Sovereign Pontiff approved verbally of the schools, taking 
them under his protection. After his death, Paul V., his successor, 
gave them, as protector, Cardinal Torres, and, after the death of the 
latter, Cardinal Giustiniani. In 161 2, Calasanctius bought the Torres 
palace, his other house having become too small. In 161 7, on March 
6th, Paul V. approved the institute of St. Joseph Calasanctius, erect- 
ing it. into a congregation, to which he gave the title of the Pauline 
Congregation, permitting its members to take the simple vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience. Joseph Calasanctius was appointed 
Superior of the congregation with the title of Prefect. He, together 
with his companions, received the habit from the hands of Cardinal 
Giustiniani on the feast of the i\nnunciation in 1617. The saint 
changed his family name, taking that of the Mother of God. The prac- 
tice of changing the name thus began in this congregation, which, in 
162 1, was placed among the religious orders by Pope Gregory XV., 
under the title of Congregation of Poor Regular Clerics of the Mother 
of God of the Pious Schools. By another Brief of 1622, the same Pope 
approved their constitutions, named the holy founder General of the 
congregation, to which he granted the privileges of the Mendicant 
orders. 

During the lifetime of the holy founder, his order spread to Genoa, 
Tuscany, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. It afterwards passed to Aus- 
tria, Germany, Poland, and Spain. After a life of eminent virtue and 
austerity, St. Joseph Calasanctius passed away from mortal scenes to 
abetter life on August 25, 1648. He was canonized by Clement XIII., 
and his feast is celebrated on August 27th. 

The end of the Order of St. Joseph Calasanctius is to afford a good 
education to children, especially those of the poorer classes, and to 



404 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



this the religious bind themselves by a fourth vow. They teach nearly 
all branches of human knowledge, from the alphabet to theology, and, 
above all, watch over the spiritual welfare of the children committed 
to their care. Gregory XV., as we have seen, had placed them among 
the regulars and permitted to take solemn vows, but Alexander VIl. y 
in 1656, brought them back to their first condition, decreeing that they 
should take only simple vows, and bind themselves by an oath of per- 
severance in the congregation. This regulation remained in force for 
a short time only, for, in 1669, Clement IX. re-established them in the 
state of regulars. Several among them objected to bind themselves 
by solemn vows, and even had recourse to the Pope to obtain the dis- 
pensation of the simple vows and the oath of perseverance they had 
taken. For this reason Clement X., by a brief of October, 1670, 
granted time to those who had taken only the simple vows, in order 
that they might decide either to leave the congregation or to remain 
in it and make their solemn profession. At the same time, the Sov- 
ereign Pontiff gave certain decisions which, from a canonical standpoint 
are very interesting. He gave power to the General to absolve from 
the simple vows, but under the following restrictions : Those who 
were laymen or only in Minor Orders, were absolutely dispensed , 
those constituted in Holy Orders, who possessed either a sufficient 
patrimony or a benefice, were returned to the jurisdiction of their bish- 
ops. If, on the other hand, they possessed no adequate means of 
support, they were left free to remain in some convent of the congre- 
gation, and live with the professed religious, but without voice, either 
active or passive. In this case they might continue to exercise their 
orders. If, however, such ecclesiastics desired absolutely to leave the 
congregation, they were to live under the obedience of their bishops, 
but to be suspended from the exercise of their orders. These precau- 
tions were taken by the Sovereign Pontiff in order to prevent penniless 
ecclesiastics from being thrown upon the world. 

By a Brief of April 28th, 1660, Alexander VII. decreed that the 
General of the order should be elected for six years, and that he should 
have four assistants. Innocent XL, in 1689, exempted these religious 
from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, submitting them directly to the 
Holy See. For a time they went barefooted, but Alexander VIII., in 
1690, obliged them to wear shoes. They also belong to the number 
of the Mendicant orders. Their habit resembles that worn by the Jes- 
uits in some countries, with the exception that they close it in front 
with three leathern buttons. Their mantle reaches only to the knees. 

This institution has spread throughout several countries of Europe, 
The continuator of Helyot believes that it has departed from the 



REG ULAR CLERICS OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 405 



spirit of its holy founder. He accuses its members of being- jealous of 
the success of the Jesuits, and of having inclined towards several novel 
ideas which have disturbed the Church during well-nigh two centur- 
ies. He cites a member of the order, Father Molinelli, who seemed 
inclined to Jansenism. The members of the Congregation of the Pious 
Schools are also called Piarists. 




CELESTIAL ANNUNCIADES. 



HEN writing of the congregations following the Rule of St. Fran- 
cis, we treated of the Nuns of the Ten Virtues, founded by St. 
Jane de Valois, who also bear the names of the Annunciades. Those 
which form the subject of the present sketch are designated by the 
name of Celestial, first, on account of their habit, which is partly of 
blue, and secondly, in order to distinguish them from the other relig- 
ious of that name. The order of which there is here question was 
founded by an Italian lady, Victoria Fornari, who, in the year 1562, 
was born at Genoa. After an infancy spent in innocence, to obey her 
parents she married a noble Genoese, Angelo Strate, by whom she 
had six children. Having spent nearly nine years in married life, she 
lost her husband, and, in consequence, she fell into a state of great dis- 
tress. After the first pangs of sorrow she turned her whole attention 
to God and the Blessed Virgin. She would gladly then have entered 
a religious order, but the duties she owed her children prevented her. 
However, she began to lead a solitary life, binding herself by three 
vows: first, of perpetual chastity; second, never to assist at evening 
parties, except for an urgent reason of charity ; and third, to abstain 
from wearing gold, silver, and silk. 

For some time she had been revolving in her mind the plan of found- 
ing an order in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Her children having 
consecrated themselves to God, her sons in the Order of Minims, and 
her daughters in that of the Regular Canonesses, she found herself 
free-to execute her project as soon as Divine Providence should open 
the way for her. It happened that her confessor, Father Zenone, of 
the Society of Jesus, had for several years cherished the desire of 
contributing towards the foundation of a new order in honor of the 
Blessed Virgin, under a rule, moderate in regard to the exterior, but 
austere in the practice of interior virtue, and in its detachment from 
secular conversation. Victoria had communicated her intentions to 
this Father, and they both conferred together on the best means to 
obtain the object of their wishes. The greatest obstacle which pre- 
sented itself to their mind was the want of temporal means. The same 
reason withheld the Archbishop of Genoa, Horatio Spinola, from giv- 
ing his consent to the undertaking. 

Nothing was now left to Victoria but to have recourse to prayer. 

406 




CELESTIAL A NN UNCI A DES. 



407 



God often leaves his friends without any visible means of performing 
a work of which the inspiration proceeds from Him, in order to try 
their constancy and to enable them to put their entire confidence in 
Him. This was the case with Victoria. In spite of these obstacles 
she determined to begin her foundation, and having a second time 
requested the Archbishop's permission, she finally obtained it in 1602, 
She also obtained the necessary leave of the Senate of Genoa. 

After much delay, the foundress succeeded in purchasing a house, 
and four companions joined her. All four had been under the direc- 
tion of F. Zenone. The first one was Vicentina Somellini, at whose ex- 
pense the monastery was built, and to whom Victoria persisted in giv- 
ing the title of foundress. The others were Maria Tacchini, Clara 
Spinola, and Cecilia Pastori. Vicentina Somellini. was married .to 
Stefano Centurioni, but by mutual consent her husband and she sep- 
arated, he resolving to enter a monastery, which resolution he put into 
execution after her death, that occurred during the year of her novi- 
tiate. On the same day that Vicentina received the religious habit, 
he donned the ecclesiastical garb, and the following year he became a 
priest. At the age of fifty-eight he celebrated his first Mass in the 
little chapel of the new monastery, where, with two other priests, he 
continued to celebrate, until some years later he entered religion. 
During the time that preceded his entrance into religion, he followed 
the mode of life of the Discalced Carmelites, among whom he had 
wished to end his days, but an attack of paralysis prevented his admis- 
sion into that order, and, after many difficulties, he was finally re- 
ceived among the Barnabites in 161 2, being then seventy-two years 
old. Seven of his children also became religious. 

The constitutions of the Order of the Annunciades had been framed 
by Father Zenone. Stefano Centurioni obtained in 1604 the appro- 
bation for them of Pope Clement VIIL, with permission to found the 
monastery under the Rule of St. Augustin, and the title of the Annun- 
ciation. In the same year the nuns took possession of the house bought 
by Victoria Fornari. Their number had increased to ten, two of whom 
were daughters of Stefano Centurioni and Victoria Somellini. After 
receiving the habit, the Sisters of this order added the name of Maria 
Annunziata, either to their baptismal name, or to one they assumed in- 
stead. Their investiture took place on August 2d, 1604. The Arch- 
bishop appointed Victoria Superior, and, during her lifetime, her com- 
munity increased to a great extent. The number of religious in a 
monastery is fixed by the constitutions to forty. 

The following year, 1605, Stefano Centurioni laid the foundations 
of a larger monastery, but, soon after, his spouse, Vicentina, who in 



408 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



religion had taken the name of Mary Magdalen, passed away from 
this life, her death occurring on April 18th. Stefano, as we have seen, 
did not on this account discontinue the interest he took in the infant 
community. 

On September 7th, 1605, Victoria and her companions made their sol- 
emn profession in presence of the Vicar-General of the Archbishop. 
They added the vow of cloister, with a clause to the effect that they 
would never allow themselves to be seen by seculars, even their rel- 
atives, and that they would never speak through the open grating, 
except three times a year. 

A few years later, several young women in France, having heard 
of this new institute and its constitutions, determined to embrace them. 
They accordingly began the second monastery of this order, receiv- 
ing, in 1 8 1 2, the habit from the hands of the Bishop of Corinth , at Pontar- 
lier in Burgundy. A third foundation was commenced in the following 
year, at Vezou, also in Burgundy. Hence the order passed to Lorraine. 

In 161 7 Mother Victoria died, and after her death the order began 
to obtain a wide extension in France and Germany. 

The constitutions of the order, first approved by Clement VIII., 
were confirmed by. Paul V. in 161 3. At the solicitation of Cardinal 
Bellarmin, Gregory XV. extended by word of mouth the same con- 
firmation to the new monasteries, and finally, on August 13, 163 1, 
Urban VIII. approved all the monasteries already founded, and which 
would, in course of time, be established in whatever part of the world. 

These Sisters, by their constitutions, are bound to support themselves 
by the labor of their hands, except when their monasteries are suf- 
ficiently endowed, in which case they labor for poor churches by making 
corporals and purifiers. In their own churches, objects of a precious 
character, such as gold and silver ornaments, are forbidden. 

They are allowed to speak to their male relatives in the first degree, 
and to their female relatives in the first and second degree, only once 
in two months. In case a Sister has no nearer relatives, the privilege 
may be granted to an uncle or aunt. Advent, Lent, and Communion- 
days are, however, excepted. Three times a year they are permitted 
to see their parents, brothers, and sisters, through the open grating. 
The members of the order recite the Divine Office and that of the 
Blessed Virgin, but all manner of chant and music is forbidden. 
They also practise mental prayer and several bodily mortifications. 

The habit of this order is a white robe, with scapular, girdle, and 
mantle of blue. The choir-nuns wear slippers covered with blue 
leather, as a reminder that their actions must be heavenly, and not 
earthly, though touching the earth. The lay-sisters wear sandals. 



/ 



CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF NOTRE 

DAME. 

THE foundress of this congregation, Jane de Lestonac, was born at 
Bordeaux in 1 5 56. Her father was adevout Catholic, but her moth- 
er had become a Calvinist. It was a miracle that the child did not 
lose its faith. Her early life was one of great piety. At the age of 
seventeen, in obedience to the wishes of her father, she married Gaston, 
Marquis of Montferrant. After twenty-four years of married life, she 
was left a widow. A few years later, breaking all the bonds that bound 
her to the world, she entered the monastery of the Feuillantes at Tou- 
louse. Here she remained six months, but the condition of her health 
obliged her to leave the novitiate. 

She now conceived the plan of founding a society under the pro- 
tection of the Blessed Virgin, for the education of young persons. 
Together with several young ladies, she placed herself under the direc- 
tion of Father de Bordes, of the Society of Jesus, which she desired to 
take as the model of her institute. Together with her director she pre- 
pared the rules of her congregation, which, in 1606, she presented for 
approbation to the Cardinal de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, who 
not only approved her institute, but also promised to endeavor to 
obtain the approbation of the Sovereign Pontiff. Through the influence 
of Cardinals Bellarmin and Baronius, the confirmation of the institute 
was obtained from Pope Paul V., on April 7, 1607. The Brief of His 
Holiness decreed that the new congregation should be united to one 
of the ancient orders, and, in consequenceof this, the Archbishop affiliated 
it to that of St. Benedict, on January 9, 1608. 

The first Sisters received the habit on May 1st, 1608, and the foundress 
was appointed Superior. In 16 10, after many trials, they were admitted 
to their solemn profession. After this, the order spread very rapidly, 
so that before her death, the foundress had the satisfaction of beholding 
the foundation of more than thirty convents. Madame de Lestonac 
died on February 2d, 1640. She was declared Venerable on September 
6th, 1834. 

The institute was resurrected in France, after the Revolution, and 
spread to Spain, Italy, and even to America. 

409 



/ 



410 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The religious of this congregation followed the constitutions of St. 
Ignatius de Loyola, as their society is an imitation of his. Although 
they observe the rule of enclosure, they devote themselves to the edu- 
cation of youth, principally in the direction of boarding-schools. They 
also teach poor children and give instruction to working girls. 



CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE. 

ON November 30th, 1592, was bornatRemiremont in Lorraine, the one 
destined by Divine Providence to be the foundress of this congre- 
gation. Marie Elizabeth de Ranfain was the only daughter of Jean 
Leonard de Ranfain, and of Claude de Magniere. From her earliest 
childhood her life was one of suffering and of virtue at the same time. 
All the seductions the world could command were brought into play 
upon her youthful heart, but, aided by grace from on high, it remained 
pure in spite of the world. The parents of the young girl, seeing her 
aversion to a married life which they desired for her, and her attraction 
to the religious state, and beholding that the allurements of pleasure 
made no impression upon her, became her persecutors. No means 
were left untried to move her, but all was in vain. Finally she was 
forced, being literally dragged to the church, to contract marriage 
with a widower much older than herself, who had scarcely married 
her when he began to ill-treat her, and act towards her as though she 
were his slave. We must certainly bow before the inscrutable decrees 
of God, who so frequently has performed miracles to preserve the 
virginity of some of His handmaids, and who now permits a young 
woman desiring nothing more ardently than to consecrate her virgin- 
ity to Him, to be attached to such a brute as her husband was. In 
spite of his persecutions, which surpass imagination, she bore all 
with the most heroic fortitude, rendering him all manner of services. 
Finally her patience and her prayers conquered, her husband was 
converted, and he died, truly repentant, in 161 5, leaving her a widow 
with three children, at the age of twenty-three. Her sufferings did 
not diminish with his death ; they increased fast around her, and, for a 
time, the evil spirit himself tormented her. She endeavored in vain 
to enter different religious orders, but there were always obstacles to 
prevent her. 

In the year 1624 Divine Providence made use of her as an instrument 
for the establishment of a new religious congregation. Being at Nan- 
cy, she was informed that two women of bad life had manifested their 
desire to change their conduct, but that they had no place to go to ex- 
cept the houses of infamy where they had been living. Her heart was 
touched and she took care of the poor creatures herself. This fact hav- 

411 



412 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ing become known, several others of these unfortunate women applied 
to her for aid, so that within a short time, she had no fewerthan twenty 
under her care. The world, as always, had its criticisms ready. How 
many an unfortunate girl has been driven to a life of infamy by the 
world ! She has had the misfortune of taking a false step, and immedi- 
ately she becomes an outcast, and spurned by society, frequently that 
very society which is rotten to the core, but which presents exteriorly an 
appearance of purity. Like the meek Jesus, the friend of sinners, who 
with such divine charity pardoned the woman taken in adultery, Ma- 
dame Dubois, (such was the name of Marie-Elizabeth after her mar- 
riage,) kindly cared for these fallen creatures in spite of the criticisms 
of a heartless world. Nevertheless her work also found its supporters. 
To this number belonged the Bishop of Toul. After his death his 
successor formed the design of establishing a religious community for 
the purpose of working at the conversion of abandoned women. Hav- 
ing taken the advice of several enlightened persons, the good Bishop 
decreed that a community should be formed of several of the peni- 
tents, to whom respectable ladies should be added in order to govern 
them, and that other repentant women should be received into the 
community as refugees from a life. of vice. Thirteen persons were 
chosen, who took the habit on January ist, 163 1, eleven becoming 
choir, and two lay-sisters. To the number belonged Madame Dubois 
and her three daughters, the former taking the name of Marie-Eliza- 
beth of the Cross of Jesus. In 1634 the institution was confirmed, and 
its rules were approved by Pope Urban VIII. After this, Mother 
Elizabeth and her first companions took the vows of religion. From 
Nancy the institution went over to Avignon and other cities of France. 
Her work was now accomplished, and the saintly, suffering Moth- 
er Elizabeth of the Cross laid down her weary head to rest, while her 
soul- soared to the world beyond the grave, on January 14th, 1049. 

The congregationshe had founded took the title of Our Lady of Refuge, 
and adopted the Rule of St. Augustin, with several of the constitutions 
of St. Ignatius. We must here add that a Jesuit, Father Poire, had 
greatly aided the community in its infancy. The members of this in- 
stitute are clad in a reddish brown habit, with a white scapular. Three 
kinds of persons are received into the congregation. The first consists 
of those whose life has been without reproach, and who bind them- 
selves by a special vow to the service of penitent souls. To the second 
class belong those penitents who are deemed worthy and who are ad- 
mitted to the religious profession, forming one and the same body with 
the former. To the third class belong voluntary penitents who, not 
being religious, live in a separate quarter under the guidance of the 



CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE. 



413 



Sisters of the first class. The number of the first class is limited so as 
not to encroach on that of the penitents. The Superiors of the com- 
munity are taken from among the former, they being not elected, but 
appointed by the ecclesiastical Superior. Each monastery is subject 
to the diocesan Bishop. All the members of the community* whether 
religious or not, are called Sister, and, dropping their family name, they 
take that of a saint. No one is permitted to speak with persons from 
outside, except with thegrating closed, and in presence of another Sister. 



ORDER OF THE INCARNATE WORD. 



HHHE principal end of this order is to honor the mystery of the In- 



carnation of the Son of God. Its foundress, Jane Mary Chezard 
de Matel, was born on November 16th, 1596. She appears to have 
been a saint from her infancy, and to have been raised to an extraor- 
dinary communication with the Divinity. It is said that it was in one 
of her visions that God ordered her to found the order of the Incar- 
nate Word, and even prescribed the plan of the Institute, together with 
the form and color of the habit. She began her work in 1625. With 
her mother's permission she took up her abode with two companions 
in a house that the Ursulines of Paris had abandoned. Her father 
greatly opposed her design, but she persevered in it, and went to Lyons 
to communicate her plan to the Archbishop of that city. The prelate 
not only approved of it, but even requested her to begin the work at 
Lyons. In obedience to his wishes, she took up her abode in that 
city. After the death of the Archbishop, finding it difficult to consoli- 
date her order, she removed to Paris. Madame de Sainte-Beuve, found- 
ress of the Ursulines, hearing of the matter, requested Father Jac- 
quinod, Superior of the Jesuits, who had been the Director of Mother 
de Matel, to oppose her plan. The influence of this lady was such that 
Father Jacquinod received an order from his General not to meddle 
with the new order, and to abandon Mother de Matel. This persecu- 
tion, however, did not last long, for the General, being better informed, 
wrote to Father Jacquinod in her favor. On June 12, 1633, Pope Ur- 
ban VIII. permitted the canonical erection of the institute under the 
title of the Incarnate Word. The object of the order, as the foundress 
explained it in her supplication addressed to the Sovereign Pontiff, w r as 
to honor the Incarnate Word in all its mysteries, especially in the Bles- 
sed Sacrament, and to repair the outrages committed against Our Lord 
by the Jews during His lifetime. After some time she returned to the 
community she had formed in Lyons, where her presence was demand- 
ed. The new order experienced numberless contradictions, but the 
foundress persevered in spite of them all, and, in 1639, the first five re- 
ligious received the habit from the hands of the Bishop of Nimes. Her 
first regular monastery was founded at Avignon, the second at Greno- 
ble, and the third at Paris. Like many holy souls, Mother de Matel 

414 




ORDER OF THE INCARNATE WORD. 



415 



had much to suffer from the jealousy of others. Having- erected the 
house of her congregation at Lyons into a monastery, she returned to 
Paris. In that city she had much to endure on the part of the Super- 
ior of her community. It was the last drop in the chalice, and it com- 
pleted the cross of the saintly foundress, who died in Paris on Septem- 
ber 1 1, 1670. 

This order, which possessed five houses, persevered in the exact ob- 
servance of its rule until the French Revolution, when the blow aimed 
at all the religious orders also fell upon it, and its members were dis- 
persed. 

One of the survivors, Mother de Quiquerant, being exiled in Italy, 
made the acquaintance of a young French priest, the Abbe Denis. 
She often told him that, in case of returning to their country, they 
should work together for the restoration of her order. Her words ap- 
peared to make but little impression on him. However, in the year 
1806, M. Denis, being at the head of the parish of Azerables, a series 
of circumstances caused him to establish a community of women, to 
which he gave the name of the Incarnate Word, It does not ap- 
pear that he intended to restore the former order of that name, but 
merely to establish a congregation of hospital sisters. For this pur- 
pose, he had a rule composed by two theologians of St. Sulpice. The 
three first religious of this new congregation made their vows on July 
5th, 1807. Extraordinary fervor reigned in the community, which con- 
tinued to exist as it had begun, until 18 16, when, by invitation of M. 
Denis, Mother Saint-Esprit Chinard-Durieux, an old religious of the 
order, joined them, bringing with her the habit, the rule, constitutions, 
and book of customs of her order. She was received with open arms, 
and the Superior of the house , shortly after, resigned her office iri 
her favor. 

To be better understood, we shall here describe the habit of the Order 
of the Incarnate Word, as it had been worn before the French Revolu- 
tion, and as it is said to have been revealed to Mother de Matel. It con- 
sisted of a white robe, red scapular, and red mantle. On the scapular 
was embroidered in blue silk a design representing the crown of thorns, 
the name of Jesus, and a heart surmounted by three nails. The cinc- 
ture was red, and hung down as far as the feet. The Sisters of this 
order also wore shoes of a red color. Each of these articles had its 
special signification with reference to Our Lord's Passion. 

From the time of the establishment of the congregation by M. Denis 
until the arrival of Mother Chinard-Durieux, the Sisters wore a black 
habit with a red cord, but, during the course of the year 1817, they 
adopted the original habit of the order. 



416 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



A short time after, Madame de Quiquerant, whose name in religion 
had been Mary Victoria Angelica, having learned by the newspapers 
that the Order of the Incarnate Word had been established at Azerables, 
immediately set out for that place, where she arrived on October 20th, 
1 8 1 8. She only lived three months after her arrival. A third member 
of the order of the former community of Lyons, Sister Saint Paul des 
Champs, also joined the little band at Azerables in 1818. The old Or- 
der of the Incarnate Word had now been restored and its rule adopted. 
The house of Azerables was also enabled to send forth affiliations or 
branch communities. 

The Order of the Incarnate Word is a cloistered order. Pope Ur- 
ban VIII., in the Bull of erection, gives to it the name of Order of the 
Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament. Its principal end is 
the increase of the honor of God by the devotion to the Word Incar- 
nate. The order also devotes itself to the instruction of youth. The 
rule followed by its members is that of St. Augustin, and they take 
the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and that of stability in 
the order. They recite the Office of the Blessed Virgin and, on certain 
days of the year, the Roman office. Each house is subject to the juris- 
diction of the Bishop of the diocese. 

From this order have gone out two congregations of non-cloistered 
religious. The first was founded in 1834, by Madame du Bourg, 
mistress of novices in the convent of Evaux. She gave to the Sisters 
of this congregation a blue habit, which she herself adopted. She 
left the cloister, it appears, with the full consent of the community, 
to join the congregation she had established, and which became very 
flourishing. 

Ten years after her departure, the restorer of the order, M. Denis,, 
in accordance with his original plans, established a second congrega- 
tion to perform works of charity. This he effected in 1847, with the 
authorization of the Bishop of Limoges. He gave to these Sisters the 
name of Hospitallers of the Incarnate Word. They were to form one 
and the same body with the cloistered nuns. Their habit is black, with 
a red cross. If they desire, and they are deemed fit, they may, after 
some time spent in the congregation, pass over to the cloister. 

In the month of March, 1852, the monastery of Lyons, of the Order 
of the Incarnate Word, sent a colony to Texas in the United States. 
These Sisters possess at present in that state, two flourishing convents 
at Brownsville and at Corpus Christi. To both of these, boarding and 
day-schools are attached. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word 
are also in the United States. They possess a hospital in the diocese 
of St. Louis. 



THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION. 

THE founder of this order was the meek and gentle St. Francis de 
Sales, Bishop of Geneva. I call him its founder, for it originated 
in his mind, and it was developed under his care, though it went far 
beyond his original intentions, and differs widely from its plan as he 
at first conceived it. What was the first idea of Francis de Sales con- 
cerning the institute of which he, together with St. Jane Frances de 
Chantal, became the author? Listen to the Cure de St. Sulpice in 
his incomparable Life of the saint : " His (Francis') compassionate 
heart had long sympathized with a great number of Christian souls who 
were longing after the religious life, separation from the world and its 
dangers, without being able to realize their pious desires, because the 
weak constitution of some, the advanced age of others, and the evi- 
dently good but enervated disposition of another class, would not 
allow them to accommodate themselves to the austere rules of the 
then existing communities. At this epoch there were, indeed, asylums 
for repentant sinners, for cenobites and recluses, for strong souls, whom 
the spirit of humility and mortification attracted to the practice of 
corporal austerities, but there were none where persons of the female 
sex, at a mature age in the state of widowhood, or in infirm health, wish- 
ing to leave the world, might consecrate themselves to God, and live 
under obedience. In order to supply this want, the holy Bishop de- 
sired, not an order whose members would be bound by vows, for he 
thought there were enough of such in the Church, without creating 
more, — but a congregation of pious women, either maidens or widows, 
where, instead of the senses, the mind and heart might practise a mor- 
tification accessible to all ; where faults might be corrected and virtues 
acquired, more by the attraction of love than by the severity of pen- 
ance ; where they might apply more to simplicity than to contempla- 
tion, to union with God than to multiplied prayers, to renunciation 
than to poverty, to charity than to solitude, to obedience than to pain- 
ful observances, where, in fine, sanctity, so much the more solid as it 
would be interior, might be manifested only by meekness, condescen- 
sion, courtesy and simplicity, — virtues without any splendor in the 
eyes of men, but beautiful before God and His angels." Such was the 
original plan conceived of the institution by St. Francis, who had been 

417 



418 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



favored by God with a revelation that he was to found a ne w order. 
What events and circumstances caused him to modify it, we shall 
see in the course of this history. 

The idea of founding a congregation without vows was not new in 
the Church, as such an institution existed for women in that of the 
Beguins, and St. Philip Neri had established the oratory on a similar 
plan, setting an example which was to be followed in France by the 
Cardinal de Berulle, and by M. Olier, the founder of St. Sulpice. 

Francis de Sales, founder of the Order of the Visitation, was born at 
the Chateau de Sales in Savoy, of an illustrious family, in August, 1567. 
His early education he received at Annecy, whence he was removed 
to the Jesuit college at Paris. His progress in virtue kept pace with 
his advance in knowledge. He studied philosophy and theology in the 
capital of France, and, having completed these studies, went through 
a course of law at the University of Padua. On his return home, con- 
trary to the expectation of his father, he determined to embrace the 
ecclesiastical state, and after his ordination to the priesthood, he 
became provost of the chapter of Geneva. He soon accepted a most 
arduous mission in Chablais, where, in the midst of untold hardships, 
he labored zealously at the conversion of the Calvinists. In 1599 he 
was appointed coadjutor of the Bishop of Geneva, who resided at 
Annecy, his episcopal city being in possession of the Protestants. 
After the death of the latter, he succeeded to the episcopal See of 
Geneva. The life of the saint after this was one of unceasing activity 
for the glory of God and the good of his neighbor. 

The one who was to co-operate with him in establishing the Order 
of the Visitation, was the Baroness de Chantal. Jane Francis de 
Fremyot was born of illustrious parents at Dijon in France, on January 
23d, 1573. Twenty years later, on December 29th, 1592, she was mar- 
ried to the Baron de Chantal, a young nobleman of the illustrious family 
of the Rabutins. Eight years of domestic happiness followed, during 
which the Baroness de Chantal was a model of virtue to all her acquaint- 
ances. But the day of calamity finally dawned upon her; her hus- 
band, while on a shooting excursion with a friend, was accidentally 
and fatally wounded by the latter. The grief of the Baroness on see- 
ing her husband brought home to her, was indescribable. All efforts 
to save his life proved unavailing, and, after lingering nine days, he 
died a most edifying death, leaving a disconsolate widow, with one lit- 
tle son and three daughters. Jane Frances bore her loss with heroic 
fortitude, offering herself entirely to God, for whom alone she now 
desired to live. 

One day, while she was earnestly beseeching the Lord to give her 



THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION. 



419 



a faithful guide to conduct her to Himself, she saw, on a sudden, a 
man of the same stature and features with St. Francis de Sales, in a 
black cassock with a rochet and biretta, just as he was, the first time 
that she afterwards saw him at Dijon. In 1604 it happened that St. 
Francis de Sales came to preach the Lenten Sermons in that city, and 
upon this occasion the devout widow made a visit to her father that 
that she might have the opportunity of assisting at the sermons of that 
celebrated preacher. The first time she saw him she was persuaded 
he was the spiritual director that she had long begged God to send to 
her. Before she spoke to him, the Bishop knew her from a former 
vision in which God had manifested to him this future vessel of his 
grace. St. Francis dined frequently at her father's house, and, by 
hearing his familiar discourse she conceived a great confidence in him. 
She made a general confession to him, and received great light and 
comfort by his wholesome counsels. 

After leading a life of great retirement and devotion for some 
time, she began to entertain thoughts of renouncing the world. St. 
Francis leisurely recommended the matter to God, and, at length, 
proposed to her divers religious orders. Her answer was, that she 
desired to embrace whatever state he judged most conducive to 
the divine honor. He then laid before her his project of forming a 
new establishment of a Congregation of the Visitation of the Virgin 
Mary, and she embraced the proposal with extreme joy. 

Having provided for her children, and conquered all the opposi- 
tions of flesh and blood, she bade adieu to her relatives and friends, 
and laid the foundation of her institute at Annecy, on Trinity Sunday, 
1610. Two other devout women took the habit with her; they were 
Mademoiselle Favre and Mademoiselle de Brechard. Towards the end 
of July they were joined by two other Sisters, Sister Rojet, and Sister 
de Chatel, and, about the month of December, three others arrived. 
After some time, the foundress, with her two first companions, made 
her profession, which consisted of a simple offering of themselves to God, 
for, as we have seen, St. Francis had then no intention of binding them 
by vows. Like all works of God this new congregation found 
opponents, but it finally triumphed over them. 

One of the primitive objects of the institute was the visiting of the 
sick and the poor. This duty was faithfully performed by the Sisters 
in the beginning of the order. 

A second house of the Visitation was founded by St. Francis de 
Sales at Lyons, where, after the return of Madame de Chantal to Annecy, 
Mother Favre became Superior. The Archbishop of Lyons, Cardinal 
de Marquemont, differed with St. Francis de Sales in his views 



420 



HI8T0RY OF RELIGI0V8 ORDERS. 



about the order. The Cardinal believed that its solid establishment 
demanded the observance of the enclosure, the obligation of solemn 
vows, and the erection of the congregation into a religious order. 
St. Francis, however, did not agree with him, for he desired the 
Sisters to unite the works of activity with those of contemplation. 
" My aim has ever been," he said, " to unite these two modes of life by 
so just a medium, that instead of destroying one another they might 
give mutual support, one assisting the other, and that the Sisters 
might relieve their neighbor in soul and body, whilst, laboring at their 
own sanctification. To prescribe enclosure now would be to destroy 
an essential part of the institute, to deprive the world of charitable 
assistance and good example, and the Sisters themselves of the merit 
of works of charity, so strongly recommended in the Gospel, so well 
authorized by the example of our Lord." 

However, he finally yielded to the Archbishop's views, and con- 
sented to the proposed change. Referring to this in after years, he 
said : " I am called the founder of the Visitation ; and yet, what is 
more unreasonable ? I have done what I did not want to do, and un- 
done that which I wished to do." 

Providence, for its wise designs, permitted or ordained this es- 
sential change in the Order of the Visitation, but, looking at the mat- 
ter from a human standpoint, it appears to be regretted that the 
Archbishop of Lyons interfered with the designs of the founder. 
There are some persons who seem to believe that they are better able 
to organize a work than the one who originally designed it, and thus 
many an institution may swerve from its original plan. 

After the foundation of Lyons, others soon followed, and the in- 
stitution spread throughout France. Seeing the progress this in- 
stitute was making, Francis thought it time to fortify it with definite 
constitutions. He prayed long and fervently, consulted the most 
eminent men, and studied the rules and constitutions of different 
orders. One of the first rules he made regarded the government of 
the institute. Each house was to be immediately subject to the Bish- 
op of the diocese. The Order of the Visitation was open to every 
one, even widows, the deformed, the infirm or advanced in age, with the 
exception of those who suffered from a contagious disease or an infirm- 
ity which rendered them incapable of observing the rule of the com- 
munity. 

The Sisters were to be divided into three classes : the choir-sisters, 
sisters exempt from the office, but in all else equal to those of the 
choir, and the lay-sisters, who had no voice in the chapter. The 
number of members of the community were to be limited to thirty- 



THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION. 



421 



three, nor could more be received without dispensation. Every year 
the Sisters were required to exchange the objects given them for their 
use, in order to destroy all attachment to them. The exercises of the 
day consisted in meditation, the recitation of the Divine Office, and 
other spiritual exercises. The Sisters were allowed to have two recrea- 
tions each day. Matins and Lauds were to be recited in the evening. 
Silence was to be constantly observed except during recreation. 

On April 23d, 1618, Pope Paul V. authorized by a Bull, the erec- 
tion of the Institute of the Visitation into a religious order under the 
Rule of St. Augustin. During the life of the founder several dis- 
tinguished ladies entered the Order of the Visitation, which obtained 
many foundations in France. 

Francis de Sales, beholding his work happily completed, departed 
this life in peace in the year 1623. Mother de Chantal survived him 
19 years. She died at her convent at Moulins on December 13th, 1641, 
being 69 years old. During the latter years of her life, monasteries of 
the Visitation were founded in almost every important city of France, 
while the order also obtained a foothold in Italy and Switzer- 
land. Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom Our Lord re- 
vealed the devotion of His Sacred Heart, was a member of this order. 
Before the close of the seventeenth century, a colony of Visitandines 
was permanently settled in Bavaria, and, at the time of the French 
Revolution, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, and Russia 
possessed houses of the Visitation, which offered hospitality to the 
persecuted members of the order. A few years later, French Visit- 
andines established their order in England. 

The Order of the Visitation began in America under peculiar cir- 
cumstances. Miss Alice Lalor, together with a few other young 
ladies, formed a little community under the direction of Father Leon- 
ard Neale, who gave to them the Rule of St. Francis de Sales. On his 
accession to the Archiepiscopal See of Baltimore, in 181 5, he petitioned 
Pope Pius VII. for the right ot raising his little community to the 
rank and privileges of a monastery of the Visitation. In the following 
year the grant was received from Rome, and, on the 28th of Decem- 
ber, 1 8 16, three of the Sisters made the solemn vows, according to the 
constitutions of the order. Since that time, the Order of the Visita- 
tion spread rapidly throughout the United States. The Visitandines 
of a few monasteries of the order are the only female religious in the 
United States who are allowed to take the solemn vows. From the 
beginning of their existence in this country, they have been devoted 
to the work of teaching, and they have thus rendered great service 
to the cause of religion. 1 
1 See history of the foundation of the Order of the Visitation, Baltimore, 1870. 



THE OBLATES OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES. 



IN the year 1868 Monseigneur Mermillod, Bishop of Geneva, re- 
quested Mgr. Ravinet, Bishop of Troyes, in France, to com- 
mence in his diocese a congregation of women, living according to 
the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, whose end would be religious in- 
struction and the Christian direction of youth, in order that, after hav- 
ing formed a certain number, he could send them into his dio- 
cese of Geneva. Says Mgr. Mermillod : " Being the successor of 
St. Francis de Sales, I ought to establish in my diocese the spirit of 
this great saint, and while the laws of the country forbid me to intro- 
duce religious orders already existing, I could present these new 
religious as a society of which I myself am the founder, and for which 
I can answer personally." 

This work, so much desired by Mgr. Mermillod, had been prepared 
some months previously by Mother Marie de Sales Chappins, Superi- 
or of the Visitation of Troyes. Two pupils of the Visitation, Mile. 
Leonie Aviat, and Mile. Lucie Canuet, obe}dng that interior voice 
which urged them to give themselves to God for the salvation of their 
neighbor, sought the advice and counsel of Mother Marie de Sales, and 
confided their future to her. She took upon herself the direction of 
their novitiate, and she was most zealous in forming the two postu- 
lants to habits of the religious life. Therefore, when the Bishop came 
to the Visitation to beg Mother Marie de Sales to instruct and pre- 
pare the subjects who would present themselves for the work, she 
promised to do so, and added : " It is already commenced ; there are 
here two young girls who will be able to do what you desire ; I have 
already prepared them; they can begin." 

Monseigneur Mermillod, delighted to find his desire so quickly ex- 
ecuted, gave them the religious habit. He wished them to be called 
Oblates of St. Francois de Sales, and assured them that they were 
truly the daughters of the saint, since, when d} 7 ing, he had predicted 
that later there would be in his spiritual family an intermediate order 
between the cloister and the world, whose mission would be to carry 
to souls the benefits of the spiritual life ; that they would be the auxil- 
iaries of the priesthood in an apostolate of Christian influence and 
teaching. 

422 



THE OB LA TES OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES. m 



Mgr. Mermillod gave to Mile. Leonie Aviat the name of Sister 
Francois de Sales, and to Mile. Lucie Canuet that of Sister Jeanne- 
Marie. 

After taking the habit (which was that of the Samaritan women in 
the time of Our Lord), the two Oblates of St Francis de Sales con- 
tinued to receive, at the Visitation, instruction in the interior life, for 
the Oblates being established exteriorly it was necessary to found 
them well spiritually. 

In 1858, through the influence of Mother Marie de Sales Chappins, an 
association was formed, the object of which was to afford young work- 
ing girls a means of preserving their faith and good morals. The girls 
were divided into two classes : the externs, or simply patronesses, and 
the boarders. The externs assembled every Sunday in a special house 
under the direction of teachers, whose every effort tended to preserve 
the faith and increase the religious practices of their young protegees. 
The boarders remained in the house and observed easy rules, accord- 
ing to the spirit of St. Francis de Sales ; some of them labored in the 
house, and others without, but all under the supervision of secular 
teachers. It was this work which the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales 
were to continue and enlarge. 

When Mgr. Mermillod went to Troyes to ask Mgr. Ravinet to pre- 
pare for him a Community of Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, he had, 
at the same time, expressed a wish to have one day priests of St. 
Francis de Sales, but he added, that he could see no means of estab- 
lishing them. However, seeing that his project of Oblates had suc- 
ceeded, Mgr. Mermillod returned to the charge, and after another 
conversation with Mgr. Ravinet, resolved to go again to Mother M. 
de Sales, to ask her opinion, and beg her prayers for a foundation of 
priests, who, animated with the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, would la_ 
bor usefully in his diocese, and perhaps later, in the whole Church. 

Many years previously it had been revealed to this mother that she 
should found an order of priests, and God caused her to feel that this 
was to be the end of all her interior trials, and that at last the divine 
promises were to be realized. It was her work. Pere Brisson, who 
according to his own words, had for thirty years resisted the en- 
treaties and assurances of Mother Chappins, in 1874 at last yielded and 
decided to found a Congregation of Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

" The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales are a congregation of priests 
who devote themselves to the different duties of the sacerdotal minis- 
try, to the direction of colleges, to the protection and instruction of 
youth, and to missions ; they receive Brothers to take charge of the 
temporal affairs. These Brothers are admitted to all the rights of the 



424 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



community, and are treated like the other members of the congrega- 
tion. During thefirst five years the vows are annual, and they become 
afterwards perpetual. The spirit which should animate them is that 
of St. Francis de Sales, that is to say, a spirit of meekness and humil- 
ity. Their interior and exterior life should be the same as that led by 
St. Francis de Sales. As to the interior, they should follow the Spiritual 
Directory as is practised by souls directed by it, notably, the Sisters 
of the Visitation. For the exterior, the constitutions oblige only to 
the practise of the vows and the duties of the priestly and Christian 
life, according to the Rule of St. Augustin. These Oblates, both priests 
and lay-brothers, are now established in many cities of Europe, and 
they have, besides, Missions in Africa and Oceania. A foundation 
was made in Brazil, but, for political reasons, it was necessary to aban- 
don it. Mother Chappins died October 7, 1875. 

The process of the introduction of the cause of the beatification of 
Mother Marie de Sales Chappins was carried to Rome and given to 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1887. 

In 1875 the constitutions of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales had 
been approved by Rome. 1 
1 Memoirs furnished by the Nuns of the Visitation, Connecticut Ave., Washington, D. C. 



CONGREGATION OF PERPETUAL ADORATION. 



MONG the various congregations which practise the devotion of 



j\ the Perpetual Adoration of theBlessed Sacrament, that founded 
in the seventeenth century by the Dominican Father, Antoine Lequi- 
en, deserves especial mention. This man of God was born in Paris in 
the year 1601. He made his profession as a member of the Order of 
St. Dominic in the convent of the Rue St. Honore in his native city, in 
1623. He soon undertook a reform of his order, which he established 
at Marseilles in 1639. In the same-year he began to execute an idea he 
had for some time nurtured, of forming a congregation of women 
who by turns would pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and thus per- 
form a perpetual adoration. For this purpose he formed a small com- 
munity in the city of Marseilles. Three members only persevered, 
the others becoming discouraged. These formed the corner-stones of 
the new institute. In 1659 the Bishop, Mgr. du Puget, gave to them 
the name of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. In the same year, 
having obtained permission to preserve the Blessed Sacrament in 
their oratory, they began the devotion of the perpetual adoration. 
The year following, the Bishop gave the habit to the three first mem- 
bers, and approved the constitutions drawn up by P. Antoine. In 1660 
they obtained the approbation of the Holy See and the permission to 
take solemn vows. 

These nuns follow the Rule of St. Augustin, and wear the Domin- 
ican habit with the colors inverted, their robe being black, their 
scapular, mantle, and veil white. They also wear two badges with 
the image of the Blessed Sacrament. In 1674 they first bound them- 
selves by solemn vows. 

Their founder died two years later, on October 7, 1676. A little 
more than a century after, the community was dispersed by the 
French Revolution. Several of its members took refuge in Rome, 
while others who had remained in France were condemned to death. 
After the stormy days of the Revolution, three survivors re-established 
the order in Marseilles in the year 18 16, and several other commun- 
ities were founded. 




HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOSEPH. 



E shall see in another article that about the year 1640, three 



societies were formed under the inspiration of M. Olier to 



honor Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. These societies were those of St, 
Sulpice, founded by M. Olier, of Notre Dame, established through 
the labors of Marguerite Bourgeoys, and the one of which we treat 
here, of which the founder was M. Jerome Le Royer de la Dauversiere, 
who had had the same pious inspirations as M. Olier. The congrega- 
tion was established at La Fleche in France. Mademoiselle Mance 
brought it over to Canada in the first years of the colony of Ville-Marie 
on Montreal island. 

Until the year 1663 the Sisters of this congregation in France took 
only the" simple vows, but about that period the congregation became 
a religious order, and its members added the stability of the solemn 
vows to the obligations already contracted. The first solemnly professed 
religious arrived in Montreal in 1669. The following yearthe Sisters 
who were already in the colony having made their novitiate, were 
also solemnly professed. The first Sister of Canadian origin to 
make her profession was Sister Marie Morin, to whom we owe the 
Annals of the Hotel Dieu. 

After the stormy days of the revolution in France were over, the or- 
der began its w T ork again in that country. 

In Canada it had passed through many tribulations ; it had suffered 
poverty, while many accidents, such as fire, had befallen it. 

In 1795 the Hospitallers of St. Joseph in Canada were affiliated to 
an association of prayers for the propagation of the faith in the United 
States. This had been founded by Father Thayer, the famous con- 
verted Protestant minister of Boston. 




SISTERS OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY. 



THE celebrated Father Eudes, founder of the congregation which 
bears his name, and of which we shall speak in a following article, 
had the happiness on his missions given in the years 1638, 1639, and 
1640, of converting several fallen women from a life of sin, who pre- 
sented themselves, begging him to provide for them a place of refuge 
where they might do penance. Having assisted them by his alms, he 
turned them over to the care of some pious ladies. One of these was 
Madeleine l'Amy. It was this simple woman who inspired M. Eudes 
with the thought of founding an asylum for these poor creatures. Act- 
ing upon the suggestion, he rented a house in 1641, with the assistance 
of charitable persons, and placed his penitents in it under the care of 
a few pious ladies. In a short time the number of penitents increased, 
and Father Eudes introduced the inclosure into the community. How- 
ever, he found that the ladies who had volunteered to take charge of 
the penitents were not very persevering in their work, but that they 
easily abandoned it. He, therefore, resolved either to place his clients 
in charge of an existing religious order, or to found anew one. The 
latter expedient was resorted to. In November, 1642, Louis XIII. 
authorized the establishment of a religious community in the city of 
Caen under the Rule of St. Augustin. It appears, though, that for 
a time the penitents of Fr. Eudes were placed in charge of the Sisters 
of Our Lady of Refuge. 

The new community was at first directed by Sisters of the Order of 
the Visitation taken from the monastery of Caen. Father Eudes, 
desirous of forming his institute according to the spirit of St. Francis 
de Sales, gave to it the constitutions of the Order of the Visitation, with 
the modifications required by its peculiar character. Differing in this 
from the order of Our Lady of Refuge, he decreed that the penitents 
should never be admitted into the order, but that they should be kept 
entirely separated from the religious. After the return of the Sisters 
of the Visitation to their monastery, Sister Mary of the Assumption 
de Taillefer became Superior of the community. It was agreed that 
the habit of the Sisters should consist of a robe, scapular, and mantle, 
all of a white color, with a black veil and a silver heart on the breast. 
The image of the Blessed Virgin and the Infant Jesus are engraved 
on the heart. 

427 



428 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Pope Alexander VII. erected this congregation into a religious 
order by a Bull of January 2, 1666. 

Thus far the Sisters had taken only simple vows, but, on the feast of the 
Ascension of that year, they made their solemn profession. Mother 
Marguerite Patin, of the Order of the Visitat ion, had returned to them 
with the consent of her Superiors, in 165 1, and she governed the com- 
munity until her death in 1668. The first affiliation of this new institute 
was that of Rennes, founded in 1674. 

During the Revolution the order continued to exist, though in a 
state of great humiliation and suffering. When those terrible days 
had passed away, it began again by degrees to bloom and flourish. 

During the course of this century, a separate branch of the order 
has been formed with its mother-house at Angers, and the Sovereign 
Pontiff has approved of it. It is governed by a General- Superior, and 
it has slightly modified the original habit. This congregation, which 
bears the name of Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good 
Shepherd, has increased rapidly. The following extract of a sketch 
written by Katherine E. Conway will render us further acquainted 
with this branch of the order: 

" The order extended into different parts of France, and even into 
other European countries ; but slowly, for its form of government 
rather hampered it in its apostolic mission. Every house was an in- 
dependent institution. There was no centre for consultation ; no 
source whence weak and struggling foundations might claim aid and 
sympathy ; no way of distributing and interchanging the religious, so 
as to put each in the place and under the conditions where the Institute 
could get from her her best services. But it was not until 1835 that this 
difficulty was realized and adequately met. 

" Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia, known in the world as Rose Virginia 
Pelletier, so gave a new life and impetus to the work of the Institute 
that she may be accounted its second founder. In mind and soul she 
strongly resembled the saintly first founder, Father Eudes. She had 
the zeal of an apostle, and the courage of a martyr. 
"She was born at Noirmontier in 1796, of a refined and well-to-do 
family, and was educated by the Ursuline nuns at Tours. 

" She early manifested great strength of character and acuteness of 
intellect, and an extraordinary realization of the dangers of the world, 
and the sorrows of the fallen of her own sex. A monastery of the 
Good Shepherd was building within sight of the convent school. 
Hardly was it completed and opened when the girl fled thither one 
evening, begging to be admitted as a novice. 

"She was now an orphan, and she had barely completed her eighteenth 



SISTERS OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY. 



429 



year. Her guardian, fearing the unstable enthusiasm of girlhood, 
obliged her to return to her home and spend a year in the society 
suitable to her position. Finding her, at the end of this time, still 
unchanged in her resolution, he left her free to follow it. She entered 
the community at Tours, in 1 8 1 5, receiving, at her taking of the novice's 
veil, the name of Mary of St. Euphrasia. She was so marvellously 
adapted for work among the penitents, that before she had completed 
her twenty-first year she was put in charge of them. A few years 
later she was elected Superior of the monastery, the Pope granting 
the required dispensation, as she had not attained the canonical age. 

" Once in authority, with scope for her administrative and creative 
genius, the monastery entered on a new career of prosperity. The 
novitiate was crowded ; new penitents sought the refuge every day, • 
and the community of Magdalens, for such of the penitents as desired 
to enter on the religious life, — long a cherished dream of Mother Eu- 
phrasia — was securely established. But the prosperity of one house 
was a trivial achievement for her zeal. She realized how great the 
need in the populous cities, of the Old World and the New, for 
Houses of Our Lady of Charity was, and she dreamed ever of new 
foundations. In 1827 she was invited to take charge of a refuge 
which the clergy of Angers were founding on the bequest of a pious 
widow of the place. Obtaining due authorization from the ecclesias- 
tical authorities of Tours, she accepted the call. This house being 
successfully established, dreams of a great missionary development of 
her order again beset her. The means which she proposed for their 
realization were so eminently practical, her disinterestedness and rec- 
titude of intention so evident, that she won the approval and co-oper- 
ation of the Ordinary of the diocese and other eminent churchmen, 
and the substantial aid of several wealthy noblemen. 

"In 1835 the Pope approved of the proposed change in the govern- 
ment of the Order, making the House at Angers a Generalat, under 
the title of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, and entrustingto 
the Superior of said House the government also of all houses which 
should be founded from it. No change was made in the rules and 
constitutions of the order, the change in government being simply a 
means more suitable to the modern world for attaining the end of the 
Institute. 

"Mother Euphrasia now aspired to nothing fess than a world-wide 
extension of her Institute. Recruits came to the novitiate at Angers 
from all parts of France, and from every rank in life. Presently there 
were applications from foreign countries, and the novitiate assumed 
a cosmopolitan character. The study of all the modern languages be- 



430 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



came an essential part of the missionaries' training, and the novices 
with any gift for it, cultivated vocal and instrumental music as an 
effective aid in their work. We cannot follow the realization of Moth- 
er Euphrasia's apostolic dreams in detail. Enough to say that from 
1835 till her death in 1868, she founded one hundred and ten houses, 
sixty-four of which are on the continent of Europe, twelve in Great 
Britain and Ireland, five in Asia, seven in Africa, twenty in the Unit- 
ed States and Canada, eight in South America, and one in Australia. 

" Since her death the work has gone on in her own brave spirit, seven- 
ty-eight new houses having been founded up to 1890. 

" One of the latest of Mother Euphrasia's foundations was the house 
in Boston, which is just celebrating the silver jubilee, or twenty-fifth an- 
niversary of its establishment." 1 

In 1844 the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd 
were introduced into the diocese of Montreal, Canada, by Mgr. Bour- 
get, the Bishop. They came from the house of Angers. About the 
same time they arrived in Louisville, Kentucky. It was in this latter 
place that the institution of the Magdalens was established in this coun- 
try. It consists of penitents who form a separate community, wearing 
a religious habit, and following the rule of the Third Order of Mount 
Carmel and of St. Teresa. 

The Order of Our Lady of Charity has the honor of having, conjointly 
with the Eudists, first propagated the devotion to the Sacred Hearts 
of Jesus and Mary. It was the great devotion of Father Eudes. Sev- 
eral members of this order have been remarkable for the sanctity of 
their lives. 

1 1892. The Good Shepherd in Boston, — Katherine E. Conway. 




SISTERS OF THE MERCY OF JESUS IN QUEBEC. 

MGR. de Saint Valier, second Bishop of Quebec, was the founder of 
the general hospital of that city. The first Sisters in it came 
from the Hotel Dieu, which was in care of nuns of the Order of St. Au- 
gustin, and to which they remained subject until 1707, when they 
formed an independent body, and adopted a silver cross as their dis~ 
tinctive mark. 

In 1 71 7 they admitted insane persons and repentant women into their 
institution, and in 1725 they opened a boarding-school. 



SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION. 



r F*HB foundress of this congregation, Miss Honora or Nano Nagle, 



j[ was the daughter of Garrett Nagle, Esq., of Bally griffin in the 
County of Cork, and of Nano Mathew of Thomastown. She was 
born at Ballygriffin in the year 171 5. She was sent to France for her 
education. Even at that period Paris was the centre of amusement 
and gaiety. Its pleasures carried away the heart of the 3-outhful 
Nano, and they might have become exceedingly injurious to her soul, 
had not a watchful Providence guarded her. One morning, as she 
was returning from a ball, she was struck by the sight of some poor 
people who were waiting for admittance at the gate of a church. 
Touched by the sight, she was shocked when she reflected that those 
first moments of the day, consecrated to God by the good people she 
saw, would, in her case, be given to sleep. 

Her father died while she was at Paris, and she returned 
to Ireland. Her heart, which God had begun to wean from the 
world, was entirely disengaged from it by the death of her sister. 
Being of a reflective turn of mind, she became deeply afflicted at see- 
ing the ignorance of the lower classes in Ireland, and the vices which 
were its consequence. Not being able to remedy the evils she wit- 
nessed, she determined to withdraw from the sight of them, and shut her- 
self up in a convent. Bidding farewell to her friends and country, she 
returned to France with the intention of putting her design into ex- 
ecution. However, she could not forget Ireland and its poor people, 
and she conceived an earnest desire to provide them with the means 
of instruction. She consulted a learned Jesuit on the subject, 
and he recommended her to follow the impulse she felt of devot- 
ing herself to the work of education in Ireland. In consequence of 
this advice, instead of entering a convent, as she had intended, she re- 
turned to Dublin. The penal laws were still in force, and besides 
these, innumerable difficulties arose before her. However, she cour- 
ageously began her work. Taking a small room, she assembled about 
thirty children, whom she instructed in the Christian Doctrine, and 
taught to read and spell. One of her sisters aided her in this good work. 
After the death of this sister and her mother, she went to live with 
her brother in Cork, where she began anew her pious enterprise. 




433 



SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION, 



433 



She hired a room and engaged a mistress to teach some children, her- 
self joining in the work. Gradually she extended the sphere of her 
usefulness, and opened several schools for children of both sexes, de- 
voting to the work the large fortune she inherited from her uncle, and 
depriving herself even of the necessaries of life. She even became a 
beggar for the love of God, for her destitute appearance frequently 
caused charitable persons to offer her an alms, which she thankfully 
( accepted. At the same time her conduct was most edifying, and her 
days were divided between exercises of piety and the instruction of 
the children. Desiring to employ her fortune for the same charitable 
purpose, she conceived the design of establishing a permanent institu- 
tion for the education of the poor in Ireland. She consulted the 
Abbe Moylan, then Vicar-General of the diocese of Cork, and his uncle, 
the Rev. Father Doran, a saintly Jesuit. The establishment of an 
Ursuline monastery was recommended to her. After the death of 
Father Doran, the Abbe Moylan took great interest in the work, and 
even went to Paris to negotiate the establishment of an Ursuline 
community in Ireland. In spite of long delays and many obstacles his 
efforts were finally crowned with success. Four young Irish ladies, 
Miss Fitzsimons, Miss Coppinger, Miss Kavanagh, and Miss 
Nagle, the latter a relative of Miss Nano Nagle, received the religious 
habit in the Ursuline Monastery of St. Jacques in Paris. In 177 1, be- 
fore they had made their profession, they returned to Ireland with 
Dr. Moylan and Mother Margaret Kelly, a religious from the Ursu- 
line Monastery of Dieppe, who accompanied them in the capacity of 
Superior. Miss Nano Nagle received them in Cork with the greatest 
satisfaction, and in this city they established their communit}^, and a 
convent was built forthem by Miss Nano Nagle. Her disappointment 
was, however, great when she discovered that an Ursuline community, 
the members of which are bound to enclosure, did not answer the 
purpose she had so much at heart, namely, the education of the poor. 
Still she continued her interest in the Ursulines, though she would not 
consent to join them. 

In 1775 she laid the foundations of her own congregation, by assem- 
bling together a few pious persons, to whom she communicated her 
ardent zeal for the education of the poor. In this year Dr. Moylan 
became Bishop of Kerry. Miss Nagle having selected two of her 
companions, Miss Fouhy and Miss Elizabeth Burke, began the life of 
community. On January 25th they took up their abode in Miss 
Nagle's poor dwelling in Douglas St., Cork. On December 24th of 
the same year they were joined by Miss Mary Anne Collins. These 
four ladies now began their novitiate, assuming the title of " Sisters 



434 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of the Sacred Heart of Jesus." On June 24th, 1776, they received the 
religious habit, Miss Nagle taking the name of St. John of God, and 
her companions respectively those of Saints Joseph, Augustine, and 
Ansrela. The foundation of the Presentation Order dates from this 
year. Their habit consisted of a black gown, over which they wore 
a black silk handkerchief crossed in front, a round, close-fitting cap, 
and- a broad, black ribbon bound tightly about the head. When going 
out they wore long, black cloaks with hoods. They devoted them- 
selves with zeal to the instruction of the poor in Miss Nagle's schools. 
The pious foundress opened her convent, which was completed in 
1777. The opening was accompanied by an act of charity, for she in- 
vited fifty beggars to dinner. A banquet singular in the sight of the 
world, but precious, no doubt, in that of God. Like all the works of God 
the institution of Miss Nagle had much to suffer, nor was the voice of 
calumny silent, but the saintly foundress bore all with deep humility. On 
Ju ne 24th, 1 777, Miss Nagle pronounced her simple vows in presence of 
the Right Rev. John Butler, Bishop of Cork, and she was appointed Su- 
perior. From this period until 1793, the Sisters took only annual vows. 
Her three first companions also made their profession on the same day. 
On September 8th, 1780, Mother Nagle was re-elected Superior of the 
community, which was increasing in numbers. About this time she 
erected near her convent a home for poor and aged females. 

After a life of wonderful austerity, intense piety, and profound hu- 
mility, Mother Nano Nagle died the death of the just on April 26th, 
1784. 

After her death, her congregation, which adopted the name of the 
Presentation, was raised to the rank of a religious order by Pius VI. 
The rules were approved by the same Pope in 1793. 

At present the order numbers about a hundred houses in England, 
Hindostan, Australia, Tasmania, New Foundland, and about seventeen 
in the United States, besides the great majority which are in Ireland. 
Faithful to the intentions of their foundress, they devote themselves al- 
most exclusively to teaching free or parochial schools. In a few cases 
they conduct orphan asylums. 



REGULAR CLERICS OF OUR SAVIOUR. 



HE founder of the congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame, 



Blessed Peter Fourier, had established a reform of Regular Can- 
ons called the Congregation of our Saviour. It perished during the 
French Revolution, but in the latter portion of this century, it was res- 
urrected under another form in a congregation of regular clerics bear- 
ing the same name. Several Priests of the diocese of Verdun, having 
studied the institute of Blessed Peter Fourier in the solitude of Be- 
noite-Vaux, obtained a decree of the sacred congregation of Bishops and 
Regulars, with the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff approving their 
rule, and erecting a new congregation, substituting the title of Regu- 
ar Clerics for that of Regular Canons. They were to make their no- 
vitiate under the direction of a religious of the abbey of St. Maurice 
of Valais. On May 12, 1855, they received the habit from the hands 
of M. de Rivaz, regular canon of that abbey, especially delegated for 
that purpose. Finally, by an indult of the Holy See, the novices made 
their profession on December27, 1855, in the sanctuary of Benoite-Vaux. 
The four first members of this congregation were Messrs. Vautrot, Ni- 
colas, Blondelet, and Chevreu. The Reverend Father Vautrot became 
Superior. 




PART VII. 



CONGREGATIONS OF MEN WITH SIMPLE VOWS, AND 
KINDRED FEMALE CONGREGATIONS. 

CONGREGATION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE IN 

ITALY. 

CONFRATERNITIES OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. — MARK CUSANI. — RULES- 

OF THE SOCIETY. 

DURING the pontificate of Pius IV., several priests and laymen in 
Rome formed a confraternity with the object of teaching- catechism 
to children and the ignorant. It was in the church of St. Apollinaris that 
they began publicly to teach Christian Doctrine. One of the first to 
devote themselves to this work was a Milanese gentleman, named Mark 
de Sadis Cusani. The celebrated Oratorian, Cesar Baronius, who 
since became Cardinal, also joined in this exercise of charity. Pius V. 
in the year 1567, granted indulgences to those who would enter the 
confraternity, and, the following year, Cardinal Savelli appointed as 
Superior of the schools of Rome, Father Henry Petra of Plazeroza, one 
of the first companions of St. Philip Neri. The members of the con- 
fraternity divided themselves into bands to teach catechism in the vil- 
lages around Rome. After some time a few of these pious persons 
left their own homes, to live together in a house near the Ponte Sisto 
under the guidance of Father Mark Cusani, who, in 1586, was ordained 
priest. 

In 1 571 Pope Pius V. decreed that parish priests in all dioceses 
should establish similar confraternities of Christian Doctrine. He, at 
the same time, granted many indulgences to their members. Gregory 
XIII. increased these indulgences, and gave to the Fathers of ther 
Christian Doctrine the church of St. Agatha at Rome beyond the Tiber. 
The founder of the society, Father Mark Cusani, died on September 
17th, 1595. This congregation, though working together with the 
confraternities of Christian Doctrine, formed, nevertheless, a distinct 
body. The former was governed by a Superior, called Provost, and 
the latter, by a President. The Pope, seeing the good these confrater- 
nities were effecting, ordered Father, afterwards Cardinal, Bellarmin, 
of the Society of Jesus, to compose a catechism, which was to be taught 
in all the schools. 

Meanwhile the Society of the Christian Doctrine obtained several oth- 
er establishments, and, in 1603, Father John Baptist Serafini of Or- 

436 



CONGREGATIONS OF MEN WITH SIMPLE VOWS. 437 



vieto drew up constitutions for the maintenance of regularity, They 
were approved by the Cardinal- Vicar by order of Pope Gregory X11L, 
and printed in Rome in 1604. According to these constitutions, the 
.congregation is governed by a General, a Vice-Provost, three Dennitors, 
a Chancellor and other officers. The members of the congregation 
make two hours' meditation each day ; they take the discipline on 
Wednesdays, Fridays, Mondays in Advent and Lent, and every day 
during holy week. Every week they hold a chapter of faults, and every 
day a conference on moral theology. They fast during Advent and on 
every Friday of the year. They never write nor receive letters with- 
out first showing them to the Superior, nor can they leave the house 
without his permission and without a companion. The habit of the 
priest is that of other ecclesiastics, while the lay-brothers wear a shorter 
habit. 

Formerly they were allowed to leave the congregation whenever 
they liked ; later they were obliged to take a resolution to spend their 
life in the institution, and, in 1609, the general chapter decreed that, 
after the year of novitiate, they should take a vow to persevere in 
the congregation. Pope Gregory XV., by Brief of 1621, reserved the 
dispensation of this vow to the Sovereign Pontiff, and Urban VI II. 
decreed that those who should leave the congregation without this 
dispensation should be treated the same as apostate religious. It is 
said that in the last century these religious were united to the French 
Doctrinarians. 



CONGREGATION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE IN 

FRANCE. 

CESAR DE BUS.— FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY.— UNION WITH THE 
SOMASCHI. — SEPARATION. — JANSENISM. — SUPPRESSION.— RESTORA- 
TION. 

BLESSED Csesar de Bus, founder of this congregation, was born at 
Cavaillon in the year 1544. After a youth of great piety he em- 
braced a military career, and by a special providence preserved his in- 
nocence amidst so many dangers. But, alas ! what he had not lost in 
the army was taken from him on a voyage to Paris by the evil asso- 
ciations he fell in with. Three years he spent away from God and his 
duty ; until the Almighty deigned to touch his heart. The words of 
two friendly-disposed persons who endeavored to recall him to a sense 
of right failed to move him, and only excited his ridicule. One day 
they offered him the Lives of the Saints to read. He took up the 
book, opened it, and read. 'The moment of grace was there. His 
eyes were opened to behold his sinful conduct, and he resolved to 
change his life. Many and severe struggles followed, but he finally 
triumphed over them all. He now began to apply himself to study, 
and finally became a priest. 

The study of the catechism of the Council of Trent produced in 
him the desire of founding a congregation of priests to teach Chris- 
tian Doctrine. Five or six young ecclesiastics having joined him, he 
sent them to different quarters of the city and to the country to cat- 
echize those whom they met, while he taught in the church and in 
private houses. 

After some time, having been joined by his first companions, 
Michael Pinelli, John Baptist Romiilon, James Thomas, and Gabriel 
Michel, he established his congregation at the church of Saint Prax- 
edes in Avignon. Four years later, in 1597, it was approved by 
Pope Clement VIII. In the beginning it was composed of four 
priests, four clerics, and four coadjutors. Their familiar instructions in 
the church drew a large number of people. 

Some time after, a division of sentiment arose between Father de 
Bus and Father Romiilon. The former desired his companions to 

438 



CONGREGATION OF CHRISI IAN DOCTRINE IN FRANCE. 439 



bind themselves by a simple vow of obedience, while the latter main- 
tained that the bands of charity were sufficient. The result was a 
separation. Father Romillon and others of his party left the founder 
and established a separate body, which was afterward united to the 
French Oratory. Father de Bus and his adherents took the vow of 
obedience, and also retained the title of Fathers of the Christian Doc- 
trine. At the age oi forty-nine, the saintly Ccesar de Bus received 
with gratitude from the hands of God a severe cross, losing the sipdit 
of both eyes. Finally, after suffering much toward the end of his life, 
he died on April 15, 1607, at the age of 63. He was succeeded as Su- 
perior of the congregation by Father Sisoine, who was, in his turn, fol- 
lowed by Father Vigier. This Superior conceived the idea of erect- 
ing the congregation into a religious order with solemn vows, and pro- 
posed it to the members, who acceded to it, and, in 1614, delegated him 
to place the matter before the Holy See. In 161 5 the Pope decided 
that they should unite with some order already established. Here- 
upon they opened negotiations with the Barnabites, but, not being 
able to come to an understanding with these religious, they made 
overtures to the Somaschi. In 16 16 this union was brought about 
and confirmed by the Pope. It was stipulated that the Fathers in 
France should continue to bear the name of Fathers of the Christian 
Doctrine, that thev should follow their wonted labors, and recognize 
Father Cassar de Bus for their founder. They were at the same time 
to be subject to the General of the Somaschi. Father Vigier then be- 
gan his novitiate in the house of that order in Rome, and, some time 
after, having returned to France, made his profession. The other 
members of the institute were also admitted to the vows after passing 
through a novitiate. 

This union had hardly been effected, when a misunderstanding arose, 
for it is an exceedingly difficult thing for different religious orders to 
be united into one, each having its own peculiarities. The Doctrinar- 
ians refused to accept the new constitutions of the Somaschi, approved 
by the Holy See in 1626, but wished to adhere to the ancient constitu- 
ions which had not received this approbation. They also desired to 
take a special vow to teach Christian Doctrine. This, as well as the 
re-printing of the ancient constitutions, the general chapter of the So- 
maschi refused to permit. This caused the Doctrinarians to seek for 
•a separation. After much litigation, the matter having been referred 
to Rome, Leo X. annulled the union with the Somaschi, placing the 
Doctrinarians in their former condition of a secular congregation. 
Those, however, who had made profession, were to continue as relig- 
ious, and were obliged to remain for the rest of their lives in the con- 



440 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



gregation. In 1659 Pope Alexander VII. permitted the members of 
the congregation to take the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and 
obedience, and a fourth one of stability, from which only the Pope, 
the chapter, or the Definitory General might dispense. The habit they 
wore was nearly like that of the secular priests. 

During the eighteenth century, several members of the congrega- 
tion became tainted with Jansenism. After the suppression of the 
Jesuits, the Doctrinarians took charge of several colleges which had 
belonged to that illustrious society. In 1776 they asked from the 
Holy See the abolition of their vows. This was granted them by 
Pius VII. in 1783. At the French Revolution the congregation of 
Doctrinarians was dispersed. It is probable that before that fatal 
event the Italian Congregation of Christian Doctrine had become 
united to that of France. At all events, the congregation was re-estab- 
lished in the latter country in 1850, by consent of the General of the 
Italian congregation, and with the approbation of Pope Pius IX. 



LAZAR I STS-ORDER OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL 



LAZARISTS, OR, PRIESTS OF THE MISSION. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT. — IDEA OF THE MISSIONS.— ST. LAZARUS. — 
SPREAD OF THE CONGREGATION. — APPROBATIONS. — FOREIGN MIS- 
SIONS. — REIGN OF TERROR. — AFTER THE REVOLUTION. — LAZARISTS 
IN AMERICA. 

ST. Vincent de Paul, founder of this well-known congregation, came 
into the world at Poui near Dax in France. His parents were 
poor, and at an early age he was obliged to share in the labors of the 
family. In 1588 he was sent for his education to the Franciscan Fa- 
thers at Dax. His progress in study was such, that after four years, 
he was able to take upon himself the task of preceptor in a private 
family, being thus enabled to continue his own studies. At the age 
of twenty he received tonsure and minor orders. At Toulouse, where 
he studied theology, he was ordained subdeacon and deacon, and in 
1600 he became a priest. He spent seven years in the study of the- 
ology, and received the degree of bachelor in the university of Tou- 
louse. 

A moment of dire affliction had now arrived for the young priest. 
Going by sea from Marseilles to Narbonne, he was captured by Turk- 
ish pirates, who took him captive to Barbary, where he remained for 
some time a slave, passing through the hands of several masters, until 
Divine Providence effected his escape. His last master, a renegade, 
having been converted, fled with him to France, where they arrived in 
1607. The following year he went to Paris, and entered the family 
of Emanuel de Gondy, Count of Joigny, as the preceptor of his chil- 
dren. 

In the year 1616, being at a country seat of the Countess, he was 
called to hear the confession of a peasant who lay dangerously ill. 
The man had been making sacrilegious confessions, as he openly de- 
clared in presence of several persons. This conversion had a 
striking effect at Folleville, where the saint was sojourning, and the 
concourse of people who, excited by his sermon, came to confess their 
sins, was so great that he was obliged to invoke the assistance of the 
Jesuit Fathers of Amiens. This was the first mission of St. Vincent 
de Paul, which was to be followed by so many others. 

441 



442 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



A short time after, having been advised by his friend, M. de Berulle, 
the founder of the French Oratory, to evangelize the parish of Chat- 
illon-les-Dombes and adjacent districts, he united to himself a few 
priests, and formed a little community of evangelical laborers. How- 
ever, he did not remain long with them, but yielded to the instances of 
Madame de Gondy to return to Paris. The Countess, ardently desir- 
ing to behold the work of the missions prosper, to which Vincent had 
continued to devote himself, and finding no religious community will- 
ing to undertake it, determined, with the consent of her husband and 
the approbation of his brother, John Francis de Gondy, Archbishop 
of Paris, to found a house for the purpose under the direction of Vin- 
cent. The college of the Bons Enfants was given to him for this 
purpose. After her death the saint immediately undertook the work, 
which was approved by the Archbishop in 1626. His first companions 
were M. Portail, M. du Coudrey, and M. de la Salle. They were, soon 
after, followed by four other priests, and the number having increased, 
Pope Urban VIII. erected their society into a congregation with the 
title of the Mission. About the same time they took possession of 
the priory of St. Lazarus, ceded to them by the religious of St. Victor. 
Hence their name of Lazarists. From this time the congregation 
began to spread in France. It passed over to Italy in 1642, to Poland 
in 165 1, and obtained missions in pagan countries. Before his death 
St. Vincent had the satisfaction of beholding twenty-five houses es- 
tablished. 

After giving the finishing touch to the rules and constitutions of his 
congregation, this great and wonderful servant of God, at the end of a 
long life of unparalleled charity, spent entirely in the service of God 
and of his neighbor, went to his eternal reward on September 27, 1660. 
The house of St. Lazarus has long since passed out of the hands of the 
priests of the Mission, but in the mother-house of the congregation in 
the Rue de Sevres, they have the happiness of possessing the body of 
their holy Founder. It was a great satisfaction for us, on a recent 
visit to Paris, to kneel before the mortal remains of a man such as the 
earth is seldom privileged to bear. Many are the relics of St. Vincent 
preserved in that house by the children of the apostle of charity. 
There was one son of St. Vincent whom we would gladly have met, 
the brother of the martyr, Blessed Gabriel Perboyre. We went to 
his room, but to our great regret the venerable man was absent, and 
thus we lost the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the 
brother of a saint. 

After the death of the holy Founder, his congregation continued to 
prosper and increase, so that, in the early part of the last century, or 



LAZARISTS, OR, PRIESTS OF THE MISSION. 



443 



little more than fifty }^ears since the death of St. Vincent, it was divid- 
ed into the nine provinces of France, Champagne, Aqnitaine, Poitou, 
Lyons, Picardy, Rome, Lombard}', and Poland. It had been introduced 
into Barbary as early as the year 1645, so that Vincent had the satis- 
faction of seeing his children minister to the needs of the Christian 
slaves in the very country where he himself had undergone a rude 
captivity. In 1697 Pope Innocent XII. sent the Lazarist Fathers to 
China to labor at the conversion of its heathen inhabitants. 

Besides the approbation of Pope Urban VIII., the congregation has 
been confirmed by Alexander VII. and Clement X. The holy Foun- 
der of the congregation was beatified by Benedict XIII. in 1729, and 
Clement XII. placed his name on the catalogue of saints in 1737. 

Although during the time of the prevalence of Jansenism, the con- 
gregation was governed by one of the most zealous successors of St. 
Vincent, M. Jean Bonnet, the heresy nevertheless made some acquisi- 
tions within it. The Superior hesitated not to use rigorous measures, 
dismissing some very useful members, and thus saving the whole body. 
His successors, M. Jean Conty, and M. Louis Debras, walked upon 
his foosteps, and through their zeal the Lazarist congregation became 
a strenuous defender of the Church against Jansenism, suffering 
persecution in consequence thereof. 

It was during- the government of the General, M. Antoine Jacquier, 
who was in office from 1762 to 1787, that the Holy See confided to the 
Lazarists the missions of China, and the Levant, rendered vacant by 
the suppression of the Jesuits. At the outbreak of the Revolution 
the house of St. Lazare was, in 1789, pillaged by a mob. The General, 
M. de Cayla, had been elected member of the States general as a 
deputy of the clergy of Paris. In the midst of those stormy days he took 
his seat in the assembly, bravely defending the rights of religion. He 
firmly refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. 
His example was generally followed by the Fathers of his congregation, 
very few among several thousands becoming traitors to their conscience. 
Two constitutional Bishops, however, had been Lazarists. One of 
them, Jean-Baptiste Guillaume Gratien, had been Superior of the semi- 
nary of Chartres. He became Metropolitan of Rouen, and died in 1799. 
The other, Adrien Lamourette, Superior of the seminary of Tours 
and Director of retreats at St. Lazarus, was consecrated, in 1791, Met- 
ropolitan of the department of Rhone et Loire. He perished on the 
guillotine in 1794, having first retracted his oath and his errors. On 
the other hand, several of the Lazarists gave their blood in defence of 
the Church. The General, M. Cayla, was forced to fly, and the com- 
munity of St. Lazarus was dispersed. He died at Rome in 1800. At 



444 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



present the house of St. Lazarus is used as a prison for women. It had 
been one of the largest religious institutions of the city. To become • 
one of its members a payment of five or six hundred pounds was re- 
quired, and no one was admitted to Holy Orders without a clerical 
title of the value required in the diocese of the candidate. 

The Congregation of the Lazarists was reestablished in France after 
the Revolution, and to-day it is in a flourishing condition. It was 
introduced into this country as early as 1817 by Fathers de Andreis 
and Rosati at the request of Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans. 

Felix de Andreis was born on Pecember 13th, 1778, at Demonte in 
Piedmont. He entered the Lazarist novitiate in 1797. On account of 
the troubles of the times he did not make his vows until September 
2 1 st, 1800. The following year he was ordained priest. After labor- 
ing some years in Italy, he left Rome for America, at the request of 
Bishop Dubourg, in 1815. He embarked from France on June 12th of 
the following year. His companions were Messrs. Rosati and Acqua- 
roni, both Lazarist priests, and Martin Blanka, a Brother of the con- 
gregation, besides several secular priests and seminarians. They land- 
ed in Baltimore on July- 26th, and departed thence for Bardstown, 
Kentucky, where Mr. de Andreis began to teach theology. After de- 
voting himself for some time to various apostolic labors, this zealous 
man founded the first house of his congregation at the Barrens in Mis- 
souri, in the year 1818. He did not long survive this foundation, for, 
having appointed Mr. Rosati his successor as Superior of the Ameri- 
can mission, he departed this life on October 15th, 1820. 1 

Father Rosati was consecrated Bishop of Tenagre in partibus on 
March 25th, 1824, and he succeeded Bishop Dubourg. In 1827 he 
was translated to the See of St. Louis. In 1838 the Fathers took 
charge of a seminary founded at Assumption by Bishop Blanc of New 
Orleans. At present the Lazarist Fathers conduct flourishing col- 
leges in the dioceses of Brooklyn, Buffalo, and St. Louis, besides pos- 
sessing foundations in several other dioceses. They have continued 
to preach missions in the United States, according to the spirit of their 
Holy Founder. Several members of the order have been promoted 
to the episcopal dignity. 

The characteristic end of this institute is to give missions to the 
poor country people, and also to work at the spiritual advancement of 
ecclesiastics. Of course, like all other religious orders and congrega- 
tions, it proposes to itself as first object, the sanctification of its mem- 
bers. To attain this end the rule prescribes an hour of mental prayer 
in the morning, three daily examinations of conscience,, spiritual read- 

1 Life of Very Rev. Felix de Andreis. 



LAZAR1STS, OR, PRIESTS OF THE MISSION. 



445 



ing every day, an annual retreat of eight days, and the observance of 
silence outside of the times of recreation. 

In regard to its second object the Fathers devote themselves for 
eight months of the year to missions, following the method of most 
modern congregations founded for this purpose. In order to reach its 
other end, that of promoting the spiritual welfare of ecclesiastics, it un- 
dertakes the direction of seminaries, and gives retreats to priests and 
those about to be ordained. St. Alphonsus de Liguori, the founder of 
the Redemptorists, had so much esteem for this special work of the 
Lazarists, that he prescribed in his rule that the Fathers of his congre- 
gation should not undertake the direction of priests' retreats in their 
houses in places where the Fathers of the Mission were already in 
possession of that work. 

The Lazarist Fathers take the simple vows of poverty, chastity, 
obedience, and perseverance, from which only the Pope or the Gen- 
eral Superior may dispense them. The latter holds his office for life. 
In regard to their works of the ministry, they are subject to the juris- 
diction of the Bishops. Their habit is nearly like that of other ec- 
clesiastics. 



SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



CONFRATERNITIES OF CHARITY. — MADEMOISELLE LE GRAS. — FOUNDA- 
TION IN PARIS. — SPREAD OF THE CONGREGATION.— -FRENCH REVO- 
LUTION. — RESTORATION. 

11 THILE St. Vincent de Paul was preaching at Chatillon-les-Dorabes, 
YV * n the year .1617, he strongly recommended a poor family of the 
neighborhood, of which most of the members had fallen sick, and which 
was in great need. His words took such effect that a great number of 
persons visited them, bringing with them gifts of things required. 
Hereupon St. Vincent conferred with certain charitable ladies of the 
parish on the means of regulating the assistance shown to these poor 
people, and to others who in future might be in similar need. He thus 
formed a small charitable society or confraternity, choosing for its 
government officers who were to meet before him every month in or- 
der to render an account of what had been done. St. Vincent en- 
deavored to establish similar confraternities in various other places. 
To render this work stable, God sent to Vincent a person who became 
the foundress of the institution of the Sisters of Charity. 

Mademoiselle Louise le Gras was born in Paris on August 12, 1591. 
Her father spared no pains to have her enjoy a solid and even brilliant 
education. Becoming convinced of the vanitv of the world, she 
would have become a Capuchin nun, if Father Honore, a Capuchin, 
had not dissuaded her by holding up to her the weakness of her con- 
stitution, which, he said, could not endure the austerities of that or- 
der. A short time after, in 161 3. she married M. le Gras, secretary of 
the Queen Marie de Medicis. From the first years of her married 
life she applied herself to visiting the sick poor in the parish where 
she lived, in order to render them all manner of services. She also 
frequented the hospitals, and drew several ladies to imitate her exam- 
ple. Having lost her husband in 1625, she resolved to marry no more, 
and consecrated the rest of her days entirely to the service of God. 
Her Director, Jean-Pierre Camus, Bishop of Belley, the friend of St. 
Francis de Sales, recommended her in his absence to St. Vincent de 
Paul, who was then beginning his congregation in the college of the 
Bons Enfants. The example of the charitable life of the saint incited 

446 



NUNS OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL 



SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



447 



he otill more to consecrate herself to the service of the poor. She 
communicated her design to the saint, but the man of God, in order 
to try her, deferred the execution of her design until 1629, when he 
sent her to visit, the Confraternities of Charity he had established in 
various places. About four years later, St. Vincent, seeing how desir- 
able it was that some of those who had offered to consecrate their 
lives to the good work he had begun, should be united into a com- 
munity, entrusted the matter into the hands of Mademoiselle le Gras, 
who gathered a few of these pious persons into her house, where she 
began this first community on November 21st, 1633. The following 
year she \ound herself to the work by vow. Mademoiselle le Gras 
was assis jd in her good works by some of the principal ladies of Paris, 
who would meet from time to time to deliberate on the best means of 
practising their charity. Her community increasing, she bought a 
house in the village of LaChapelle, near Paris, whence she removed to 
the Faubourg St. Denis near the house of St. Lazarus. Besides many 
other works of charity, she opened her house to persons of her sex 
desirous of making a spiritual retreat. St. Vincent having established 
a foundling asylum, entrusted it to Mademoiselle le Gras and her 
companions. In the year 1639 she opened another establishment 
in the city of Angers, and, soon after, sent her daughters to several 
other places ev^n outside of France, for, in 1652, she established them 
at Warsaw in F ;land. In 1645, she had accepted the charge of the 
insane. The c igregation was first approved by Jean Frangois de 
Gondy, archbishop of Paris, and, afterwards, by his successor, the 
Cardinal de Retz, who gave to them the name of the Servants of the 
Poor and placed them under the direction of the General of the Mission 
and his successors, on condition that they should forever depend on 
the archbishop of Paris. After this, St. Vincent gave them the rules 
he had composed and appointed/Mademoiselle le Gras Superior for 
life. In 1660 the congregation was confirmed by the Cardinal de 
Vendome, legate in France of Pope Clement IX. The foundress died 
in the same year on March 15th. After her death the congregation 
spread with wonderful rapidity. In the year 1789, about the time 
of the breaking out of the French Revolution, it possessed four hundred 
and twenty-six houses in France, besides a great number in Poland, 
and some in Austria and Siberia. Though suffering with the Church 
in the dark days through which it had to pass at the close of the last 
century, the Sisters of Charity continued their noble work without 
hardly any interruption. In the year 1801 the institute obtained a 
kind of legal existence from the Consular government. In less than 
three years the General Superior increased the number of her Sisters, 



448 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



which had been greatly diminished. The Superior at this time was 
Sister Duleau, a woman of remarkable energy, and well suited to the 
difficult times in which it was her task to govern the congregation. 
She died January 30th, 1804, and at her funeral more than one hun- 
dred Sisters accompanied her corpse to the grave. 

In 1807, by order of the Superior, a General Chapter of this congre- 
gation, and others devoted to similar works, was held in Paris, presided 
over by Madame Lastitia, the mother of Napoleon, assisted by Car- 
dinal Fesch, grand almoner of the empire. The Chapter was held in 
the palace. 

After the restoration of the Bourbons, the congregation developed 
still more rapidly. In March, 181 5, it began to occupy a large house 
in the Rue du Bac, given by Napoleon, which is still the mother-house 
of the congregation. The relics of St. Vincent were transferred 
thither, and there they remained until 1830, when they were removed 
to the chapel of the Lazarists in the Rue de Sevres. About the year 
1847, M. Etienne, General of the Lazarists, wrote to the Abbe Badiche, 
one of those who continued the large work of Helyot, that the Con- 
gregation of the Sisters of Charity possessed from six to seven thou- 
sand members, dispersed in five or six hundred houses situated in 
France, Poland, Gallicia, Prussia, Spain, the Italian States, Mexico, the 
Levant, Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, and other places. It had 
three novitiates, namely, at Paris, Madrid, and Turin. 

At present the white bonnet of the Sisters of Charity is seen in 
nearly all countries of the world. In what manner the congregation 
was introduced into the United States we shall see in the following 
chapter. 

The members of this congregation are not bound by perpetual vows, 
but they take the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which 
they renew every year on March 25 th. The congregation is governed by 
a Mother-General residing in the Rue du Bac in Paris, and is subject 
to the Superior-General of the Lazarists, who appoints a visitor to the 
different provinces. 

In the first half of the last century, Helyot wrote that the Sisters 
possessed generally no real estate as their own property. Their 
dwellings, with the exception of the seminary of Paris, belonged to 
the poor or to confraternities of charity. At present, however, this 
state of affairs has undergone a change, and the Sisters of Charity 
possess their own establishments. 



AMERICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



MOTHER SETON. — SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS. — MR. COOPER. — EMMETTS- 
BURG. — RULES. — ESTABLISHMENTS IN VARIOUS PLACES. — DEATH OF 
MOTHER SETON. — UNION WITH FRANCE. — SEPARATION FROM THE 
NEW YORK COMMUNITY. 

ON August 28th, 1774, was born in the city of New York, a child 
whose name was to become famous in the history of the Cath- 
olic Church in the United States. Eliza Ann Bayley was the daugh- 
ter of Protestant parents, in whose faith she was educated. She soon 
developed, together with qualities that rendered her amiable, a quick 
and comprehensive mind, a sound judgment and fertile imagination. 
Under the vigilant eye of her father, who in directing her education 
looked more to useful than ornamental attainments, Miss Bayley ad- 
vanced not only in knowledge, but also in the practise of thoughtful- 
ness and self-restraint, which became so useful to her in after life. 
About the year 1794 she married Mr. Seton, by whose name she was 
henceforward to be known. 

In 1803 Mrs. Seton accompanied her husband to Italy, the latter's 
health having greatly declined, so that a sea voyage was recommend- 
ed to him by his physicians. All was unavailing, however, and Mr. Se- 
ton died upon a foreign shore. After his departure from this world his 
widow returned to America. While in Italy she had become acquaint- 
ed with the Catholic religion, which she gradually grew to admire, and 
which she finally embraced on March 14th, 1805. After her conver- 
sion she began to entertain the design of entering a religious com- 
munity in Canada, but the Rev. William Dubourg, President of St. 
Mary's college in Baltimore, who made her acquaintance in New York, 
suggested the practicability of such a scheme within the limits of the 
United States. Hereupon Mrs. Seton wrote to Bishop Carroll, to re- 
quest his advice in the matter, while the Rev. Mr. Dubourg consulted 
the Rev. Messrs. Matignon and Cheverus on the same subject. 

Acting on the advice of enlightened friends, she opened a boarding- 
school for young ladies in the city of Baltimore, and began to lead 
a life of retirement from the world, though she had then no certain 
prospect of being able to form a religious institution. But Providence 

449 



450 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



directed the work, and, in December 1808, sent to her the one who 
was to be her first companion, Miss Cecilia O'Conway, of Philadelphia. 
One morning Mrs. Seton told Mr. Dubourg that when going to com- 
munion, she had felt a strong inclination to devote herself to the in- 
struction of poor female children. There was then living at St. Mary's 
Seminary, Baltimore,' a Mr.. Cooper, who was preparing 1 for the minis- 
try, and who felt a desire to follow literally the maxim of the Gospel : 
" Go sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor." In the morning' 
in question he happened to be in the church at his thanksgiving at the 
same time as Mrs. Seton. Seeinghim,she thought to herself : "He has 
money : — if he would but give it for the bringing up of poor little chil- 
dren ! " When she communicated this thought to Mr. Dubourg, he 
was struck by it, and said : " Mr. Cooper spoke to me this very morn- 
ing of his thoughts being all for poor children's instruction, and if he 
had somebody to do it, he would give his money for that purpose ; and 
he wondered if Mrs. Seton would be willing to undertake it." This 
was the beginning of the good work, and the thoughts of both Mrs. 
Seton and Mr. Cooper having ripened, the matter was laid before 
Bishop Carroll, who gave his approval to it. 

Emmettsburg was selected by Mr. Cooper as the place to start the 
undertaking, and land was purchased for that purpose. Mrs. Seton 
was soon after joined by a second companion in the person of Miss 
Maria Murphy of Philadelphia, whose example was, not long after, 
imitated by others. Mother Seton proposed to her companions to 
appear in a habit like that which she wore herself, and which consisted, 
of a black dress with a short cape, similar to a costume she had ob- 
served among the religious of Italy. On the Feast of Corpus Christi, 
June 2d, 1809, they appeared for the first time in this costume in St. 
Mary's Chapel. No particular religious institution had been adopted, 
but Mother Seton bound herself by the vows of poverty, chastity, and 
obedience for the space of a year. At the request of Mother Seton 
the community adopted the title of " Sisters of St. Joseph," as she 
desired to place it under the patronage of this saint. Mother Seton 
and Sister Maria Murphy arrived at Emmettsburg on June 22d, and 
the rest of the community followed some days later. 

Mother Seton and her ecclesiastical superiors had determined to 
found the society on the plan of the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul, 
and had even applied to France to obtain some of the Sisters from 
Europe to aid the undertaking. The society in Europe consented, and 
several Sisters were deputed, but their journey to America was pre- 
vented by the government of Bonaparte. 

A copy of their rule was, nevertheless, obtained by the American 



AMERICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



451 



Sisters, who began to observe it with certain modifications suited to 
the circumstances of the country. The Superiors of St. Joseph's com- 
munity at Em mettsburg thought it necessary to undertake the education 
of young ladies who were able to pay, and not limit themselves only 
to the instruction of the poor according to the plan of St. Vincent. 
Particular constitutions were also added to the Rule. No form of 
habit was prescribed, but the black cap was introduced soon after the 
Sisters arrived at Emmettsburg. 

On July 19th, 1813, eighteen members of the community, among 
whom was the Mother Superior, pronounced their vows. The follow- 
ing year the Sisters obtained an establishment in Philadelphia, and, in 
18 1 7, one in New York. 

After beholding her work completed and blessed by God, the 
saintly Mother Seton passed to her reward on January 4th, 1821. 
She was succeeded in her officeof Superior by Sister Rose White, dur- 
ing whose administration the community obtained foundations in 
Baltimore and Washington. The third Superior was Sister Mary 
Augustine Decount, who, during her time of office, beheld the institu- 
tion spread to Harrisburg, Albany, Cincinnati, Wilmington (Del.), 
Brooklyn, Boston, Alexandria (Va.), and New Orleans. 

During the cholera epidemics in the United States the Sisters of 
Charity heroically offered their services to administer relief and con- 
solation to the sick and dying, and several of them fell martyrs to. their 
•devotion and charity. Mother Augustine was succeeded in office by 
Sister Rose White, who was elected for the second time. Foundations 
were obtained at Norfolk, Vincennes, Utica, Conewago, Pittsburg, 
Pottsvilie, Martinsburg, St. Louis, and Richmond. 

Frequent applications had been made to France to obtain Sisters 
from that country, but always unsuccessfully until the vear 1849, when 
a new petition was presented by an American prelate. In 1850 a 
union was effected between the Sisters of Charity of France and a 
large portion of the American community of which the Sisters renewed 
their vows according to the formula used by the society of St. Vin- 
cent de Paul. On December 8th, 1850, the Sisters at Emmettsburg 
assumed the habit worn by the Sisters in France. Henceforth these 
Sisters have been under the direction of the Lazarist Fathers. Their 
community meanwhile continued to spread and establish new founda- 
tions in various portions of the United States. 

In 1846 the Superior of the Sisters of Charity at Emmettsburg had 
ordered that they should give up all their orphan asylums for boys in 
New York. Bishop Hughes of that city opposed this, and, after a 
1 Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton— Chas. I. White, D.D. 



4b2 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



long correspondence, it was agreed that such of the Sisters in the dio- 
cese of New York as chose to do so, should organize themselves as a 
separate community, under the control of the Bishop. Thirty-one of 
the fifty Sisters in that diocese joined the new congregation, and, on 
the 8th of December, they became an independent body, under the 
title of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. 1 

Bishop Hughes retained the habit and constitutions of Mother Seton. 

About the year 1859, a house of this congregation was established 
at Newark during the administration of Bishop Bayley, who, after some 
years, modified the habit of the Sisters, by giving them a veil with 
white frills instead of the cap they had, thus far, worn. A separate 
mother-house was established for the diocese of Newark, near Madison, 
New Jersey, with Mother Xavier as Superior. They had branch es- 
tablishments in the dioceses of Trenton, Hartford, Harrisburg, and 
Boston. 

The mother-house of the New York Sisters of Charity is at Mount 
St. Vincent, on the Hudson, and they have established branch com- 
munities in Halifax, N. S., and other places. 

The Sisters oi Charity in Cincinnati also formed a diocesan institu- 
tion, and established a branch in the. diocese of Pittsburg, which now 
forms an independent community. 

1 Life of Archbishop Hughes, — Hassar. 



CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARY PRIESTS OF THE 
BLESSED SACRAMENT. 



FIRST INSPIRATION. — FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. — VOW OF OBE- 
DIENCE. — MISSIONS. 

/CHRISTOPHER Authur de Sisgaud, founder of this congregation, 



\_j was born in France at Charleville, on April 6th, 1609, of a noble 
and pious family. Having begun his studies at the Jesuit college at 
Aix, he felt himself penetrated with an extraordinary devotion towards 
the Blessed Sacrament, and after finishing his philosophy at Avignon 
he even conceived the project of instituting a congregation with the 
special object of honoring Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. One day 
he prayed in the church of the Nuns of St. Clare, beseeching the Lord 
to make His will known to him. It was the 25th of March, 163 1. The 
conviction came over him that the institution of a congregation in honor 
of the Blessed Sacrament was according to the will of God, and he be- 
held in spirit the one who was to be his first companion. To his great 
surprise, he met the next day the person whom he had seen in his vis- 
ion> and who was a stranger to him. This was a youth whom his moth- 
er had brought to the prefect of the college in the hopes of obtaining 
employment for him, to enable him to continue his studies for the 
priesthood. The prefect, seeing Authur enter, enquired if he did not 
stand in need of a servant. The young man immediately grasped the 
opportunity, and promised the boy's mother to take care of him. He 
took him to his home and introduced him to several friends of his who 
were accustomed to meet there for the purpose of devoting themselves 
to spiritual exercises. He, on the same occasion, communicated his 
design to them. Nine of them immediately offered to join him. After 
trying them for some time, he gathered them on April 25th, 1632, in the 
church of the Carmelite Fathers, where they heard'Mass and received 
Holy Communion. What will, perhaps, appear strange to our readers, 
is that he called them, one by one, made them vow obedience to him 
for their whole life, promising to forsake everything for the accom- 
plishment of his pious design. This meeting in the church of the Carmel- 
ites reminds us of that of St. Ignatius and his companions at Montmartre. 
It was an extraordinary affair, and it excited no little comment, the pub- 




454 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



lie blaming Christopher and accusing him of fanaticism. Nothing 
daunted by the criticisms heaped upon him, he received Holy Orders 
and said his first Mass on June ioth, 1633. Immediately afterwards he 
left for Rome to submit his plans to the Sovereign Pontiff. Pope Ur- 
ban VIII. greatly encouraged him, and advised him to devote himself 
to the work of the missions and to the direction of seminaries until the 
Church should grant a formal approbation to his institute. 

The Abbe d'Authur, seeing that he would not be able to obtain more 
than this, returned to France, where he was received by Louis de Bretet, 
Archbishop of Aix. His companions, together with other disciples, 
soon joined him, and he established them in a house near a chapel which 
the Archbishop had given him. Here the exercises of the institute 
began to be observed, and, a few days later, the founder with some of 
his brethren inaugurated his series of missions according to the advice 
he had received from the Holy Father. They went through the whole 
diocese of Aix and founded a second establishment in the city of Brig- 
noles, which was, sometime later, followed by a third at Marseilles. 
About the year 1639, they undertook the direction of a seminary in the 
diocese of Valence, which was probably the first one of the kind open- 
ed in France. Meanwhile the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament 
continued their apostolic labors in various dioceses, and the Abbe d' 
Authur was appointed by the Holy See prefect of the missions of 
France. On September 20th, 1647, Pope Innocent X. confirmed the 
institute and erected it into an ecclesiastical congregation. The Abbe 
Authur was soon after raised to the episcopal dignity. He died in 1 667. 

The congregation he had founded continued to labor faithfully in 
the vineyard of the Lord, until it was swept away by the torrent of 
the French Revolution, to appear no more. 




CHRISTIAN BROTHERS 



BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 



BLESSED DE LA SALLE.— CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.— SISTERS OF THE CHILD 
JESUS. — PERE ROLAND.— M. NYEL.— FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY.— 
INCREASE.— PERSECUTIONS.— DEATH OF THE FOUNDER.— SUBSE- 
QUENT HISTORY. 

BLESSED Jean Baptiste de La Salle, the founder of this institute, 
came into the world on April 30th, 165 1, in the city of Rheims. 
From his earliest years he gave proofs that he was a vessel of predi- 
lection, and destined by God to accomplish great things for His glory. 
At the age of eight he was placed for his education in the university 
of Rheims. Desiring to consecrate himself to the service of the altar, 
he received the tonsure on March 11, 1662, being then only eleven 
years old, thus choosing, in the springtide of his life, the Lord as his por- 
tion forever. A few years later, in 1666, a canonry was conferred upon 
him in the metropolitan church of Rheims. Havingcompleted his course 
of philosophy at Rheims, he entered the seminary of St. Sulpice in 
Paris in 1670, thus placing himself under the direction of the celebrated 
M. Louis Tronson, rector of the seminary. In this place he became 
a great subject of edification, and distinguished himself by his appli- 
cation to study and the vigor of his intellect. Two years later he was 
obliged to leave the seminary to take care of his younger brothers and 
sisters, as his parents had both died. 

The want of Christian education of children, which is an ever re- 
curring need of the Church, had been felt in France, and Father Nicolas 
du Barre, of the order of the Minims, had founded a society of pious 
women for the education of girls under the title of Society of the In- 
fant Jesus. A branch of the society was established at Rheims by M. 
Roland, the spiritual director of the Abbe de La Salle, who thus made 
the acquaintance of the new society. The young Abbe had received 
minor-orders in 1668, and, on Pentecost Sunday, 1672, the sub- 
diaconate was conferred upon him. In 1675 he was ordained deacon 
in Paris, and, on April 9, 1678, he received the priesthood in the Cathe- 
dral of Rheims. After his ordination he desired to exchange his 
canonry for a parish, in order to find a wider scope for his zeal, but to 
this his archbishop, Mgr. Tellier, refused to consent. But Providence 

455 



456 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



had another work in store for him. M. Roland on his deathbed con- 
fided to him the establishment of the Sisters of the Child Jesus in 
Rheims. Deprived of its founder, the community was in danger of 
being suppressed, but the energetic efforts of the Abbe de La Salle 
saved it from ruin. Shortly after taking charge of this community, 
he met at Rheims, M. Nyel, who had founded a teaching brotherhood 
at Rouen, and had come to Rheims to establish a school. The Abbe 
de La Salle entered into this plan with saintly avidity, and M. Nyel 
began his school, which was soon followed by another. Meanwhile 
M. de La Salle pursued his own studies, and, in 1681 he received 
the doctor's cap from the faculty of Rheims. Finding that M..Nyel 
was frequently absent, and that the work suffered in consequence, the 
Abbe de La Salle induced him to remove the home of the teachers 
nearer to his own house. Under the supervision of this zealous priest 
the Brothers began to lead a regular community life. His time being 
limited, Blessed de La Salle took the Brothers to his own table, in 
order to impart spiritual instructions to them, at least during the time 
of meals. By the advice of Pere Barre, whom he consulted, he finally 
assumed the entire direction of the brotherhood, taking it into his own 
house on June 24th, 1681. He soon after resigned his canonry, 
gave away his entire fortune in charitable works, and devoted himself 
without reserve to the life-work he had chosen, becoming one of the 
brethren and a member of the new society. In 1684 he permitted 
twelve of his companions to take triennial vows of obedience and sta- 
bility. It was decided among the members of the fraternity that their 
habit should be made of coarse, black cloth, closed in front with hooks 
and eyes, with a white rabata or collar, and a mantle. The Blessed de 
La Salle was the first to clothe himself in the new habit. He himself 
gave to them their name of Brothers of the Christian Schools. The 
holy man who had given up all for Christ's sake, now became all for 
all, and the doctor in theology began to teach little children like the 
humblest of the Brothers. The institution of the small or preparatory 
novitiate in which young boys are trained for the society, owes its or- 
igin to Blessed de La Salle himself. In 1686 Blessed de La Salle in- 
sisted upon resigning the government of the society, and Brother Hen- 
ri L'Heureux was elected Superior, but, soon after, the ecclesiastical 
authorities ordered de La Salle to resume his office. 

In 1694, after the society had begun to spread, twelve of the Broth- 
ers were permitted to take perpetual vows. The Blessed Founder 
was anxious to resign his office of Superior, but the Brothers would 
not consent. They decided, however, that after Bl. de La Salle, no 
other person in holy orders should ever be their Superior. Some time 



BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 457 



after this the founder prepared the rules of his community. Persecu- 
tions, too, were not wanting. The Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop 
of Paris, becoming prejudiced against the holy founder, deprived him 
of his office, but, being better informed, he reinstated the saintly 
man. In 1717 Blessed de La Salle, having once more resigned on ac- 
count of his infirmities, Brother Barthelemy was elected Superior-Gen- 
eral. Finally, after a long life of activity, during which he suffered 
much, Blessed de La Salle departed in peace on April 7, 17 19. At his 
death, the institute comprised twenty-seven houses, two hundred and 
seventy-four Brothers, and nine thousand eight hundred and eighty- 
five scholars. The institute was approved by Pope Benedict XIII. on 
January 26th, 1725. In the Bull of approbation it was expressly stated 
that the Brothers were not to leave the society to enter a more aus- 
tere order without the permission of their Superior. 

During the bloody Revolution which stigmatized France toward 
the close of the last century, the Christian Brothers were suppressed 
with the other religious orders, and many of them perished on the 
guillotine. After the signing of the concordat, the Brothers were, in 
1802, permitted to reunite. 1 The founder of the institute was beati- 
fied by Leo XIII. on February 19, 1888. 

The Christian Brothers have continued their noble work during the 
present century in various parts of the world, faithful to the spirit of 
their founder. Since 18 19 the mother-house of the congregation 
which, at first, had been at St. Yon, has existed near Paris. During 
the siege of that city in 1871, the Brothers distinguished themselves by 
their charity towards the wounded. Elizabeth Wormely Latimer 2 
says of them that they were among the bravest and most active litter- 
bearers, and, citing the words of M. de Sarcey, she adds: " They ad- 
vanced wherever bullets fell, to pick up the dead or wounded ; re- 
coiling from no task, however laborious or distasteful; never com- 
plaining of their food, drinking only water ; and after their stretcher 
work was done, returning to their humble vocation of teachers, with- 
out dreaming that they had played the part of heroes." 

The Christian Brothers possess institutions outside of France in 
Algiers and the French colonies, in Belgium, Switzerland, Savoy, 
Piedmont, the Levant, Malaysia, Canada, and the United States. 
They were introduced into this country in 1846, when Archbishop 
Eccleston called them to Baltimore, where they opened a novitiate 
at Calvert Hall. Two years later they established themselves in 
New York, and, since then, they have spread throughout the country, 
conducting parochial schools and colleges. 

1 The Life and Work of the Ven. J. B. De La Salle, by F. C. N. 

* France in the Nineteenth Century. 



CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARIES OF THE COMPANY 

OF MARY. 



GRIGNON DEMONTFORT.— M. LEVEQUE. — COMMISSION OF CLEMENT XT. — 
FOUNDATION OF THE CONGREGATION. — DEATH OF THE FOUNDER. — 
SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. 

LOUIS-Marie Grignon, generally known as de Montfort, founder of 
this congregation, was born on January 31st, 1673, in the little 
town of Montfort-la-Canne in Brittany. His baptismal name was 
Louis, and that of Mary he received at his confirmation in honor of 
the Blessed Virgin, to whom he was especially devoted. He himself, 
at a later period, substituted, in imitation of some religious, the name 
of the place of his birth for that of his family. Having finished his 
classical studies and philosophy in the Jesuit college at Rennes, he 
went to Paris, where he followed the course of theology, first in the 
community of M. de la Barmondiere and, afterwards, in the seminary 
of St. Sulpice. Even at that age, M. de Montfort had to drink deep, 
bitter draughts of the chalice of suffering, but what might have dis- 
couraged others became for him only an incentive to greater perfec- 
tion. After seven years spent in the study of theology, he was or- 
dained priest at the age of twenty-seven, on June 7th, 1700. 
. His work had now begun. His first thoughts carried him across 
the Atlantic to the distant missions of Canada, but from this his superi- 
ors dissuaded him. God had other designs with him. 

He at first began to evangelize the diocese of Nantes in company of 
a saintly priest, M. Leveque. His next field of labor was the city of 
Poitiers, where the Bishop appointed him chaplain of the hospital. 
Here, as elsewhere, the cross was his portion. Forced by opposition 
to leave the hospital, he went to Paris, but returned to Poitiers in 1703. 
It was here that he conceived the idea of establishing a community of 
religious women, which ripened into the institution of the Sisters of 
Wisdom. 

After giving several missions in the diocese of Poitiers, he made on 
foot a pilgrimage to Rome in 1706, and Pope Clement XL appointed 
him missionary apostolic, assigning to him France as the field of his 
labors, and giving him the special mission of combating the Jansenist 

458 



CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARIES. 459 



heresy. Having returned home, he worked most zealously in a number 
of dioceses. In 171 3 he began to reflect, seriously on the establishment 
of the congregation of which he had laid the foundations in Poitiers, 
and of another of missionary priests. The Abbe Vatel and the Abbe 
Mulot soon joined him. They were the only members of his congre- 
gation during the life-time of the founder. He was only to lay the 
foundations of this edifice, on which others were to erect the walls. 
His work was done, his life was at an end, that life which had been an 
uninterrupted series of humiliations and sufferings. Blessed Grignon 
de Montfort died the death of the saints on April 28th, 17 16. He had 
been a most faithful servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his little 
work on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin has remained as a monu- 
ment to his love for the Queen of Heaven. 

It was in the year before his death that he composed the rules of 
his society of missionaries which, at that time, was only in an embryon- 
ic condition. After his death M. Valois joined the two companions 
he had left, and M. Mulot was elected Superior. In 1722 they took up 
their abode at St.Laurent-sur-Sevre, and the congregation began to in- 
crease. Father Mulot, a man of eminent virtue and a worthy successor of 
the founder, governed the congregation for the space of twenty-seven 
years. The society continued to exist during the Reign of Terror, 
though the Superior, Father Supiot, was obliged to hide among the 
rocks. This energetic man survived the Revolution, and died in 18 10. 

The congregation began now to recruit its shattered forces, and has 
continued to labor most zealously in the spirit of its holy founder. 
During the course of the present century it has been approved by the 
Holy See. 

The Company of Mary consists of missionary priests and of brothers 
called coadjutors. No ecclesiastics are admitted into the society but 
those who have already received the order of priesthood. Their only 
object is the giving of missions, especially in country places, hence 
they exclude the work of parishes, the education of youth, and simil- 
ar labors to which many other orders and institutions are called. 
Those priests who enter the society take the simple vows of poverty 
and obedience for a year, and renew these yearly until, after the lapse 
of five uninterrupted years, if they are deemed proper they are admitted 
to take these vows for life. The Brothers also add the vow of chastity, 
the priests being already bound to this virtue by their ordination. They 
recite their office in common if possible, and, also, the entire rosary every 
day. Moreover, they practise other exercises of piety and humility com- 
mon to religious orders, such as the chapter of faults, retreats, and the 
fast of Saturday. We shall see in a following chapter that the congre- 



460 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



gation which St. Alphonsus de Liguori at a later period established in 
Italy was in many respects similar to this one, having the same end, 
the giving of missions, especially among the poorer classes, and, by its 
rule, excluding all other works which might prove a hindrance to the 
missions. Thus the spirit which moves the saints renews the move- 
ments it inspires at different times and in different places. What 
Blessed Grignon de Montfort had done for France, St. Alphonsus did 
for Italy, but with different results, the sphere of activity of the Con- 
gregation of the Most Holy Redeemer having grown far more ex- 
tended than that of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary. 





7 



CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM. 



MARY LOUISE OF JESUS. — LA ROCHELLE. — SUFFERINGS. — PERSECU- 
TIONS.— APPROBATION. 

THE one who, first of all, aided Blessed Grignon de Montfort while 
he was at Poitiers, in establishing this congregation, was Marie 
Louise Trichet. She was born on May 7th, 1684, at Poitiers. She 
was in her fifteenth year when she first met the saintly man who was 
to exercise such wonderful influence over her life. Under his direc- 
tion she made rapid progress in virtue, and ardently longed to conse- 
crate herself to God in the religious state. Having established a little 
society in the hospital, he took her there, where she found ample op- 
portunity to practise humility and all manner of virtue. After some 
time, with her mother's consent, he gave her a coarse, grey habit. 
This was on the feast of the Purification in 1703. At the same time 
the young girl abandoned her family name for that of Mary Louise of 
Jesus. She was then in her twentieth year. When Blessed Montfort 
left Poitiers, he spoke these words to her : "Do not leave the hospital 
before the end of ten years. If the establishment of the Daughters of 
Wisdom has not been made until then, God will still be contented and 
His designs with you will be accomplished." 

In 1 713 her holy director saw her again for a short time, and found 
her still wearing the habit, and animated with the same good disposi- 
tions. She had experienced difficulties without number, but she had 
persevered. The holy founder, after encouraging her, gave her a com- 
panion in the person of Catherine Brunet of Poitiers, who took the 
name of Sister of the Conception. The Bishop of La Rochelle en- 
tered into the views of Blessed Grignon, and offered to defray the ex- 
penses of a foundation in his diocese. After much opposition the two 
Sisters arrived at La Rochelle in 171 5. The ten years of which Blessed 
Montfort had spoken were just at an end. Here sufferings again 
awaited them, but God blessed their work, and, during the course of 
the year, they were joined by three other members. Having finished 
their rules, the blessed founder left them in the same year to see them 
no more on earth, for, in a few months, he passed beyond the limits 
of this earthly life. The community then consisted of only five Sis- 
ters. 

461 



462 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



After a year of painful hesitation, the little community being for a 
time disbanded on account of difficulties which had arisen, Sister 
Mary Louisa of Jesus, following the advice of an enlightened man, and 
of Father Vatel, one of the companions of Blessed de Montfort, estab- 
lished her little community at St. Laurent-sur-Sevres, where the mor- 
tal remains of Blessed Montfort reposed. They went thither in 1720. 
Their poverty was extreme, and the opposition they met with, even 
on the part of pious persons, became a great source of suffering. But 
in spite of all difficulties, the little community, under the guidance of 
its zealous Superior and the direction of Father Mulot, increased in 
number, so that, four years after its establishment, it possessed twenty 
members. In 1724 it was able to begin other foundations, and those 
of Rennes and several other places succeeded one another rapidly. 

Sister Mary Louisa of Jesus, like her friend and father, Blessed 
Grignon de Montfort, had much to suffer, in fact, all her life had been 
a tissue of suffering, which proceeded from enemies as well as from 
friends. But that life finally came to an end. On April 28th, 1759, 
forty-eight years after the death of Blessed Grignon de Montfort, she 
departed this life. The society continued to prosper until the French 
Revolution, when it endured an ample share of the tribulations through 
which the Church of France had to pass. Several of the Sisters were 
put to death, others were imprisoned, but in spite of persecution, they 
continued their work as much as possible. 

The Sisters of Wisdom devote themselves to the instruction of chil- 
dren, the care of the sick, and almost all the good works performed by 
female communities. Their congregation is very numerous in France 
and Belgium. It was approved, at the same time as the Company of 
Mary, by a Brief of December 16, 1853. 



THE PASSIONISTS. 



ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS. — FIRST INSPIRATION.— HABIT OF THE PASSION- 
ISTS. — FIRST MONASTERY.— APPROBATION.— CHURCH OF STS. JOHN 
AND PAUL. — PASSIONISTS IN ENGLAND. — IN AMERICA. 

THE Passionist Congregation is one of those which came into ex- 
istence during the last century with the object of converting 
souls to God by the exercise of the missions. The founder was Paul 
Francis Danei, now better known as St. Paul of the Cross. He was 
born within the limits of the Republic of Genoa on January 3, 3694. 
His infancy and youth were spent in great innocence and piety, for 
he was a child of benediction from his birth. The idea of founding a 
congregation came to him by inspiration, for, in an ecstasy, he beheld 
the habit which he and his companions were to wear. However, not 
wishing to trust himself in a matter of such importance, he consulted 
his director, Mgr. Gastinara, a Barnabite, at that time Bishop of Alex- 
andria in Piedmont. The prelate, after maturely weighing the matter 
before God, decided that Paul-Francis was called by God to establish 
the Congregation of the Passion. On the morning of November 22, 
1720, the Bishop vested him with the habit that had been shown him 
in the vision, the same which the Passionists wear to-day. It con- 
sists of a black cassock and mantle of coarse material. The former 
is girded at the waist with a cincture of leather. The lay-broth- 
ers wear on the cassock, and the priests on both cassock and mantle, 
a white heart surmounted by a cross with the inscription JESU XPI 
PASSIO, which means: The Passion of Jesus Christ. From the 
moment that St. Paul received the habit from the hands of his direc- 
tor, he applied himself to prepare the rules of his institute. These he 
submitted to the judgment of Mgr. Gastinara. But the Bishop, loth 
to rely upon his own judgment, consulted other learned religious, who 
recognized in them the finger of God. Following the advice of these 
enlightened men, Paul departed for Rome in 1721 to obtain a higher 
approbation. All his efforts were, however, in vain, and he was obliged 
to return home. Still he did not lose courage, but, sometime after, 
again went to Rome with one of his brothers. Affairs now took a 
better turn. Paul and his brother were both raised to the priesthood 

•463 



464 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



and they labored in the Eternal city for the good of their neighbor. 
Having dwelt for some time in a little hermitage of Monte Argentaro, 
near the city of Orbitello, they obtained permission to receive compan- 
ions, the number of whom having increased, the saint began the erection 
of his first monastery in the same place. They took possession ol it 
on September 14th, 1737. After long and persevering efforts the Holy 
Founder finally succeeded in obtaining the approbation of the Holy 
See. Benedict XIV., by a Rescript of May 15, 1741, and a Brief of 
March 28, 1746, approved his rules. Clement XIV. again approved 
and confirmed them in 1769, and formally gave his approbation in per- 
petuity to the Congregation of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of 
Our Lord Jesus Christ. Pius VI. modified the rules by his BullPrae- 
clara Virtutum exempla, and his successor Pius VII., added a number 
of privileges to those which had already been granted them. 

Clement XIV. gave to the Passionists the church of Sts. John and 
Paul in Rome, where the holy lounder established a numerous com- 
munity, and took up his abode. It was there that he died, and there 
his relics repose. 

After his death, the congregation of which the saint himself had 
founded several communities, spread, throughout Italy, and crossing 
the Alps, went over to Belgium, France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Walla- 
chia, and England. In the latter country it w T as very prosperous. St. 
Paul had prayed long and earnestly for the conversion of that island. 
The illustrious convert from Anglicanism, Lord Spencer, became a 
member of the order, taking the name of Father Ignatius. The con- 
gregation was introduced into this country in 1852, when a commun- 
ity was established in Pittsburg by three Priests and one Brother. 
From here it spread to various other portions of the United States, and 
at present possesses flourishing communities in the dioceses of Balti- 
more, Newark, and others. The Passionists have proved themselves to 
be earnest and efficient missionaries. The well-known Father Fidelis 
Kent Stone, once a clergyman of the Episcopalian Church, became a 
member of the congregation. For some time he labored in the Argen- 
tine Republic, where the Passionists are established. 1 They have also 
sent missionaries to Australia. 

The end for which the Congregation of the Passionists was founded 
by St. Paul of the Cross was, in the first place, the sanctification of its 
members, and secondly, the salvation of souls. To attain the first end 
the members of the congregation lead the lives of religious. The 
Holy See approved the institute with simple vows, which are those 
of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a fourth vow by which the 

1 Father Fidelis has returned to this country. 



THE PASSIONISTS. 



465 



members of the order bind themselves to endeavor to excite in the 
hearts of the faithful the remembrance of the death of Christ. Pas- 
sionists also take the vow of perseverance, like the Lazarists, Redemp- 
torists, and the members of several other religious congregations. 
By this they bind themselves to persevere in the institute until death, 
so that, without a true and grave reason, no member may leave the 
congregation, nor can the congregation dismiss a member. 

The life of a Passionist in his monastery must be one of prayer. 
His rule obliges him to an hour's meditation in the morning, to one 
in the evening, and to a meditation of Half an hour during the night 
alter the recitation of the Divine Office. In this they resemble sever- 
al of the austere religious orders like the Discalced Carmelites and 
the Capuchins. In fact, the Passionists partake, perhaps, more of the 
ancient monastic form than any of the modern congregations. It was 
the desire of St. Paul of the Cross that his monasteries should, as 
much as possible, be built in solitary places, where the religious 
might with less interruption devote themselves to contemplation. 
Among the mortifications practised by the members of this institute 
is that of going barefooted. 

The exterior labors of the Passionists consist in giving missions and 
retreats, in preaching the word of God, especially the Passion of 
Christ, and in the hearing of confessions. The congregation has given 
to. the Church several Bishops, foremost among whom was the Ven- 
erable Vincent Mary Strambi, Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, who 
died on January ist, 1824. 

There also exists a female branch of this congregation, founded by 
St. Paul of the Cross. The mode of life of its members is, to a great 
extent, like that of the men. Their monastery was founded in the 
city of Cornetto. These nuns pray especially for the success in the 
holy ministry of their brethren of the Congregation of the Passion. 
Their habit resembles that of the brethren in so far as their sex per- 
mits. 

The Passionists may be classed among the most fervent and most 
regular communities of the Church which have preserved the original 
spirit of their founders. 



CONGREGATION OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 



MARIANELLA. — YOUTH OF ST. ALPHONSUS.— VOCATION.— FOUNDATIONS 
AT SCALA AND ELSEWH'ERE. — APPROBATION OF THE RULE. — A 
GLANCE AT THE RULE. — ST. ALPHONSUS, BISHOP— LAST YEARS OF 
THE SAINT.— HIS DEATH. — A VISIT TO PAGAN I. 

Hp HE author has now reached a point in the history of religious 



orders which possesses the greatest interest for himself, for he was 
once a member of the congregation of which he undertakes to write, 
and to its name are linked for him some oi the most pleasing recol- 
lections of his life. To that congregation he owes his education for 
the priesthood, and within its bosom some of his best years were 
spent. 

It owes its origin to St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, a Doctor, and 
one of the most fertile writers of the Church. The saint was born at 
Marianella near Naples on September 27th, 1696, of the illustrious and 
very ancient family of de Liguori. His father was Don Giuseppe de 
Liguori, and his mother, Anna Cavalieri. 

On our recent visit to Italy we felt that we could not return home 
without seeing the places sanctified by the life and virtues of our 
Father, St. Alphonsus. This was the principal and, we might say, 
the sole object that carried usas far south as Naples. We had, then, hard- 
ly arrived in that city when we engaged a carriage to drive us to Mar- 
ianella. It was a beautiful afternoon, with the bluest of Italian skies 
casting their reflection on the placid waters of the Bay of Naples 
which lay at our feet, and frowning Vesuvius in the distance, sending 
forth cloudlike volumes of smoke. Driving through streets which 
still betokened the splendor that once was theirs, and past the royal 
palace on the hill above the city, we reached the road to Marianella. 
Our minds were fraught with images of the last century. We seemed 
to behold the Liguori family in their coach of antique form, driving 
to their country seat ; among them was the youthful Alfonso, the 
noblest scion of their house. We beheld the saint in clerical garb as 
in later years, on foot or seated on the back of an ass, he wended his 
way to the home of his youth and infancy; that home we were, our- 

466 




CONGREGA TION OF THE MOST II OL Y REDEEMER. 467 



selves, approaching. A few miles outside of Naples, a monument 
erected to the memory of Alphonsus indicates the branch road leading 
to Marianella. A drive of only a few minutes from the main road 
brought us to the village with its antiquated stone houses, narrow 
streets, and dirty children. Was it really in this place that the Liguoris 
had their villa, in which the great Doctor of the Church, Alphonsus, 
was born? Yes, it was here. Turn to the left as you enter Marian- 
ella, and you behold before you the mansion of the Liguori family. 
It has passed into other hands and has lost all of its former splendor. 
A small portion of it has been purchased by the Redemptorists, that, 
namely, where their holy founder was born. The Superior of the 
little community received us most kindly, and allowed us to bend our 
knees on the spot hallowed by the presence of two saints: Alfonso de 
Liguori and St. Francis de Girolamo. The room where the saint was 
born is there in an unchanged condition, and beside it is the domestic 
chapel of the family, where it is said Alphonsus celebrated Mass when 
visiting 1 Marianella. It is still the chapel of the community. 

Here, then, it was that the saint of the XVIII. century came into 
the world, here the Jesuit, St. Francis de Girolamo, took the infant 
in his arms, and casting a prophetic glance into the future, foretold 
what he once would be. It was in this same house that many of the 
events transpired related by Tannoia, the saint's biographer. 

On our return to Naples we went in quest of the house where 
Don Giuseppe de Liguori resided when in the city. Our time, and 
consequently, our search, were limited. A palace was pointed out to 
us as the Liguori mansion. It is still in the hands of the family of that 
name, but of another branch than the one to which the saint belonged, 
the branch of the Presiccios. One of the members of that family 
bears the name of Alfonso de Liguori. We entered the ancient court, 
but as the Prince de Presiccio and the rest of the family were absent, 
we were unable to visit the interior of the building. 

At the tenderest age, Alphonsus was inspired by his pious mother 
with the deepest sentiments of piety. The education he received un- 
der the auspices of his father, aided by his own precocious intellect, 
produced in him the most marvellous results, so that, at the early age of 
sixteen, he had graduated in law. Admitted to the Neapolitan bar, his 
reputation as a lawyer spread far and wide, and a brilliant career 
awaited him. But God had other designs in regard to His servant. 
A galling humiliation became the providential turning point in his 
career. 

In 1723 a most important lawsuit was entrusted to the young law- 
yer. He had prepared his case with the greatest care, and felt sure 



468 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of victory. At the bar he pleaded with his wonted skill, and univer- 
sal applause awaited him, when his antagonist, who had coolly listened 
to his arguments, pointed out to him a flaw which he had not observed. 
It was a thunderbolt for Alphonsus. It ruined his case, but gained for 
the Church a servant like unto whom there have been few. He left 
the court-room resolved to break with the law forever. When, after 
a few days, peace had been restored to his soul, Alphonsus was a 
changed man. His resolution was taken. He had served his country; 
henceforth he was to serve the Church. Don Giuseppe, beholding, 
by this resolution of his son, all his earthly hopes of greatness for his 
family dashed to the ground, energetically opposed the resolution of 
his son. But Alphonsus was determined, and, in spite of opposition, 
he donned the ecclesiastical habit. He was ordained Priest by Cardinal 
Pignatelli, in 1726. The zeal of the young Priest and his talents as an 
orator soon acquired an immense reputation for him at Naples. He did 
not spare himself, but labored incessantly for the promotion of God's 
glory, both in the pulpit and the confessional. However, he did not 
give himself over to exterior labors so as to -forget the duties of the 
inner life, for Alphonsus .devoted himself in all his free moments to the 
exercise of prayer and meditation, and brought his body under sub- 
jection by the practise of the greatest and most heroic mortification. 
He was then practising that which he practised and preached through- 
out the entire course of his life. He had joined a society of missions 
at Naples called the Propaganda, and, as a member of this organiza- 
tion, he was constantly employed in the work of the ministry, espec- 
ially on missions. However, his arduous labors soon told on his 
health, and he was brought to death's door. After his recovery, in or- 
der to recruit his shattered forces, he repaired to the mountains of 
Scala. It was here that he was to learn the will of God. He was struck 
by the abandoned condition of the peasantry, and he felt in his soul a long- 
ing to do something for those destitute beings. Having become ac- 
quainted with the Nuns of the Holy Saviour at Scala, an institute 
founded by Monsignor Falcoia, Bishop of Castellamare, he was told 
by one them, Sister Maria Celeste Costarosa, that she had been favor- 
ed by a divine revelation, according to which Alphonsus was to found 
an institute of Priests who would labor for the spiritual welfare of the 
most abandoned souls. This singularly impressed him, as it coincided 
with the thoughts that were then agitating his own mind. He consulted 
with his director, Father Thomas Pagano, of the Oratory at Naples, 
with Father Fiorillo, of the Order of St. Dominic, and with Mgr. Fal- 
coia. They all approved of his plan, and urged him to undertake the 
work. As soon, however, as the affair was known at Naples, a cry of 



CON GREG A 77 ON OF THE MOST HOL Y REDEEMER. 469 



opposition arose. His former friends seemed to desert him, and his 
brethrenof the Propaganda even voted to exclude him from their so- 
ciety. The greatest struggle was on the side of his heart. It cost him 
a heroic effort to part from his father, who had become reconciled to 
the thought of his being a Priest, but who used all possible means to 
turn him aside from his resolution to found a religious congregation. 
But Alphonsus, who was now convinced that God called him to this 
work, overcame all difficulties, and, on November 9th, 1732, laid the 
foundations of his congregation in a small house at Scala. A few 
companions soon joined him, and all things seemed favorable, when 
the institution was brought to the verge of ruin by internal dissen- 
sions in the newly-formed community. Its members could not agree 
as to the exact mode of life they were to follow, and the consequence 
was, that, not. being able to come to an understanding, they separated. 
Some followed Mandarini, who established a congregation of his own, 
and Alphonsus was left alone at Scala with Sportelli and the lay- 
brother, Vito Curzio. The work seemed ruined, and the soul of Al- 
phonsus was plunged into unutterable darkness. It was now that he 
took the heroic resolution to devote himself to his task, even though 
he should be left entirely alone. The resolution was not taken in vain, 
for other companions soon joined him, so that he was enabled to un- 
dertake the work of the missions. From this period until his death, 
he had constantly to struggle with persecutions on the side of the 
government and of ill-disposed persons. These resulted in the de- 
struction of the community of Scala, and of another, established at Vil- 
la de Schiavi. During his lifetime, houses of the congregation were 
founded at Ciorani, Nocera de Pagani, Caposele and Iliceto, in the 
kingdom of Naples, one in Sicily, and at Scifelli, and Frosinone in the 
Papal states. 

The Rule of the congregation was approved by Pope Benedict 
XIV. on February 25th, 1749. St. Alphonsus labored hard, but un- 
successfully, to obtain, also, the approbation of the king of Naples, 
and we shall see hereafter what bitter sufferings this approbation, 
when it was finally obtained, cost the holy founder. 

The Rule given by St. Alphonsus to his congregation has, in vari- 
ous general chapters, been augmented and elucidated by constitutions. 
A synopsis of both Rule and Constitutions will give an insight into the 
mode of life followed by the Redemptorists. Every society is char- 
acterized by its object. This it is which gives to it its form, and con- 
stitutes its very essence. If we follow the history of the Congrega- 
tion of the Most Holy Redeemer, we find that the idea which gave 
birth to it, and which was the predominant one in the mind of its 



470 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



founder, was that of laboring for the salvation of souls, and not of all 
souls in general, but, especially, of souls the most abandoned; not by 
all manner of means, but in particular, by the work of the missions. 
For this reason, the Rule of the Redemptorists excludes all labors, 
how good soever in themselves, which are incompatible with this their 
characteristic work. 

In common with all other religious institutions, the congregation 
seeks first the sanctification of its own members. Hence the Rule says, 
that the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer has as its end 
to unite secular Priests who, living together, strive to imitate the life 
of Christ. As the life of Christ was an inner and an outer life, thus 
must the Redemptorist combine action with contemplation. To attain 
the first end of the institute, his own sanctification, the Redemp- 
torist binds himself by the three simple vows of poverty, chastity, 
and obedience, promising, at the same time, not to accept any ecclesi- 
astical dignities outside of the congregation, except by a dispensation 
from the Sovereign Pontiff or the General of the congregation, though 
the latter cannot oblige him to accept them. To these vows he 
adds that of perseverance until death, which he confirms by oath, from 
which only the Pope or the Superior-General can dispense. Whoso- 
ever, without grave reasons which in rare cases may exist, seeks a 
dispensation from this oath, renders himself guilty of a grievous sin 
of infidelity towards God, and injustice toward the congregation. 

The Redemptorist, by the vow of poverty, does not relinquish the 
right to possess property, but he gives up that of using it independent- 
ly of the Superiors. At home he possesses everything in common 
with his brethren. In regard to the vow of poverty, the rule is very 
explicit, and the Superiors, even the General, who permit its trans- 
gression in grave matters, may be deposed from their office. 

Another means made use of to attain perfection, is the practise of 
certain exercises of piety. The rule prescribes three meditations 
daily, each of a half hour's duration in the morning, the afternoon, and 
the evening. Spiritual reading, the Rosary, two examinations of con- 
science, and a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, form the other exercises 
ol the day. Every week the members of the community assemble in 
chapter to accuse themselves of their faults. Twice a week they take 
the discipline, and fast on the vigils of the principal feasts of the 
Blessed Virgin, besides abstaining from meat throughout Lent and 
Advent. Silence is observed from the time of evening prayer until 
after meditation the next morning, and, also, during the afternoon, for 
three hours. Every month the Redemptorist spends a day in soli- 
tude, and, once a year, he makes a retreat of ten days. 



CONG REG A TION OF THE MOST HOL Y REDEEMER. 471 



The characteristic work of the Congregation of the Most Holy Re- 
deemer for the good of souls, consists principally in giving missions. 
The education of youth, the care of parishes, the direction of sem- 
inaries and other similar occupations are foreign to the nature of the 
institute. 

The mode of government of the congregation closely resembles 
that of the Society of Jesus, which, no doubt, St. Alphonsus took as 
his model. The supreme authority is vested in the General, who bears 
the title of Rector-Major, and who is elected by the General Chapter 
for life. He is assisted by six Consultors, one of whom is the Ad mon- 
itor, whose duty it is to draw the attention of the General to his faults. 
During the course of the present century, the congregation has been 
divided into provinces, at the head of each of which there is a Provin- 
cial assisted by two Consultors. Each house is governed by a Rector,- 
who has also two Consultors. An Admonitor is, also, appointed for the 
Provincials and the Rectors. The only persons elected in the congre- 
gation are the Rector-Majorand his Consultors. The Provincials, Rec- 
tors and their Consultors and Admonitors are appointed by the General. 
Each Rector chooses his own minister, who takes charge of the tem- 
poral interests of the house, and who is the first person in the com- 
munity after the Rector. The Rule prescribes that a General Chapter 
should be held every nine years. 

There are, also, in the congregation, lay-brothers, who perform the 
domestic duties of the house. They take the same vows as the 
Fathers, with the exception of that of renouncing ecclesiastical digni- 
ties. 

The Rule of the congregation was not finished by St. Alphonsus 
until 1742, ten years after the birth of the congregation. It was on 
July 22 of that same year that the first members of the congregation 
pronounced their vows. After many difficulties the congregation, 
which, thus far, had borne the title of the Holy Saviour, was, together 
with the Rule, approved by Benedict XTV. on February 25, 1749, un- 
der the title of Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In the 
same year was held the first General Chapter, in which St, Alphonsus 
was elected Rector-Major, and several constitutions were made. 
Others were added to the Rule seven years later in the Chapter of 
1756. A short time after, the saint was appointed Bishop of St. Aga- 
tha of the Goths, though he still continued to fill the office of Rector- 
Major, with Father Villani as his Vicar-General for the congregation. 

St. Alphonsus, having prepared a collection of constitutions, pre- 
sented them to the General Chapter of 1764, by which they were 
sanctioned. The saint had founded his congregation, not only for the 



472 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



kingdom of Naples, but in order that it should spread throughout 
the world. Ere that time arrived, however, both the founder and his 
institute were to pass through the crucible of the most dire affliction, 

Alphonsus had endeavored for a long- time to obtain for his congre- 
gation the approbation of the Neapolitan government, which he 
deemed necessary to its success. In 1747 he met with no success in 
this direction. In 1752 he obtained a species of approbation for the 
four existing houses, which, at the same time, forbade him to es- 
tablish others within the kingdom. From 1767 to 1779 the congrega- 
tion had to pass through the most awful persecution excited againstit. by 
its enemies. A few years before the latter date, in 1775, St. Alphon- 
sus, crushed by years and infirmity, resigned his diocese and retired 
to the house of his congregation at Pagani, where he was to end his days* 

About the year 1779 one of the general consultors, Father Majone, 
was charged to strive again for the royal approbation of the institute. 
Seeing that he could not obtain it for the Rule as it was, he had the, 
weakness to sacrifice, the latter. The vows of chastity and obedience 
were superseded by oaths, and that of poverty by simple promises. 
The affair leaked out, and, letters of complaint poured in upon Alphon- 
sus from all sides. The holy founder had been deceived in regard to 
the nature of the, approbation, not dreaming that he had been imposed 
upon. The Rule, altered and mutilated, was approved by royal decree 
of January 20th, 1780. When the affair became known, a storm of pro- 
testation arose in the congregation. Alphonsus was broken-hearted. 
Majone left the congregation. A general meeting of the Fathers 
w T as held at Nocera on May 12th, 1780. It was exceedingly stormy, 
and loud complaints were heard against Majone, against the consultors, 
and against St. Alphonsus himself, whom some reproached with de- 
stroying the congregation. The saint was asked to resign, which he 
did without the slightest difficulty. Flowever, the general feeling 
against him was only temporary, and he was re-elected. The worst 
was yet to come. St. Alphonsus had a deadly enemy in the person of 
a Father of his congregation, named Leggio. This unfortunate man. 
by his calumnies spread in Rome, succeeded in prejudicing the mind 
of Pius VI. against Alphonsus. The result was that the saint and the 
houses in the kingdom of Naples were declared out of the congrega- 
tion, and that Father Francis cle Paul was appointed President of the 
congregation in the Pontifical States. When the decree of deposition 
and exclusion from the congregation was read to Alphonsus, the aged 
saint bowed his head in perfect submission, nor did he utter one word 
of complaint against the Hoi) 7 See. Thus was the founder of the Con- 
gregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, without any fault of his own, 



CONG REG A T10N OF THE MOST HOL Y REDEEMER 473 



together with the first houses of the institute, cut off from it. The 
chalice had now been nearly drained to the dregs. One consolation 
was awarded to the saint before his departure from this world. He 
was allowed to witness the entrance into the congregation in the Pa- 
pal States of a man from beyond the Alps, Clement Maria Hoffbauer, and 
thus foresee the future extension of his congregation. 

The rigor of the Holy See towards the Neapolitan houses was 
slightly diminished, they being allowed to share in the privileges of 
those of the Roman States, but they were not re-united to the congre- 
gation during the lifetime of the saint whose end was fast approach- 
ing. At last, after a long life of innocence, of good works, and of suf- 
fering, the end of which was a martyrdom, both interior and exterior, 
the blessed soul of Alphonsus found its rest in the bosom of God. 
The saint died at Pagani on August ist, 1787. He had had the 
satisfaction of seeing many of his children reach a high degree of 
sanctity. The Ven. Gennaro Sarnelli, Blessed Gerard Majella, a sim- 
ple lay-brother, the Fathers Sportelli, Cafaro, Latessa, the student 
Blasusci, the Aloysius of the congregation; the lay-brothers, Vito 
Curzio, Francesco Tartaglione and Joachim Gaudiello have left to 
their brethren bright examples of virtue. Alas! why have we not 
walked on their footsteps! 

The day after our visit to Marianella we took the train at Naples 
for Pagani. It was with great emotion that we entered through the 
portal of the house where St. Alphonsus died. There is the commun- 
ity-room whence he made the sign of the cross, which seemed to turn 
into another direction, the flames of Vesuvius. There is the corridor 
with its stations, where the saint was wont to perform the devotion of 
the Via Crucis, there is the chapel where he said Mass for the last 
time, and there , too is the room where he expired, still in the same 
condition as it was when the lifeless corpse of Alfonso de Liguori 
lay within it. His bed with the coarse blanket upon it is there, his 
rolling chair is there, his table and the image of the crucified Re- 
deemer painted bv himself are there. Adjoining the house is the old 
church where the voice of Alphonsus was so often heard. We knelt 
beside that altar which had witnessed his sublime communings with 
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In the new church erected by the 
piety of the Redemptorists, repose to the left of the high altar, the 
mortal remains of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, a precious treasure for 
his children, to whom the house again belongs, they having purchased 
their own property, which had unjustly been taken away from them 
by the Italian government. The pulpit of this church is the one from 
which the saint so frequently preached. 



THE REDEMPTORISTS AFTER THE DEATH OF 
ST. ALPHONSUS. 



BLESSED CLEMENT HOFFBAUER.— FATHER PASSERAT.— SPREAD OF THE 
CONGREGATION. — CANONIZATION OF ST. ALPHONSUS. — FATHER SME- 
TANA. — DIVISION. — FATHER NICHOLAS MAURON. — FINAL UNION. 

THE closing scenes of the life of St. Alphonsus had been over- 
clouded with bitter sorrow, both for himself and the congregation,, 
but he had hardly breathed his last when peace was restored. The 
Sovereign Pontiff recognized the innocence of the saint, and the king 
of Naples, Ferdinand IV., finally approved the Rule of Benedict XIV. 
Pius VI. permitted the convocation of a general chapter for the elec- 
tion of a Rector-Major for the entire congregation. Father de Paul 
resigned his office, and Father Peter Blasucci was elected Rector- 
Major. Thus was unity restored, and the congregation of St. Alphon- 
sus was one again. 

Before the death of the saint, two young men from across the Alps 
had entered the congregation. They were Clement Maria Hoffbauer 
and Thaddeus Hiibl. The former was 33 years of age and a Bohemian 
by birth. He had led a life of singular virtue in the world, and, to- 
gether with his friend, had become acquainted with the Congregation 
of the Most Holy Redeemer in a providential manner. They both 
made their vows on March 19, 1785, and, after finishing their theologi- 
cal studies at Frosinone, they were ordained priests in 1788. Immedi- 
ately afterward they were sent to Austria to introduce the congrega- 
tion into that country. Not succeeding in Austria, they established 
their first Transalpine house at Warsaw in Poland. This community 
soon became most flourishing, and its members labored incessantly for 
the good of souls, founding branch establishments in Poland and Cour- 
land. In 1793 Father Hoffbauer was appointed Vicar-General for all 
the houses outside of Italy. One of the most distinguished novices 
who entered the congregation at Warsaw was the Frenchman, Joseph 
Passerat, who afterward succeeded Father Hoffbauer. Several founda- 
tions were begun in Switzerland and Bavaria, but the troublous con- 
dition of the times did not permit them to last. Father Passerat with 
his companions were, for a time, forced to lead an almost nomadic life. 



THE RED EM PTC) IMS TS. 



475 



travelling from place to place. The greatest blow was struck at the 
Transalpine Congregation when, in 1808, the house of Warsaw and the 
other communities in Poland and Courland were suppressed. Father 
Hoffbauer retired to Vienna, where, almost alone, he waited patiently, 
living like another Philip Neri, a life of uninterrupted zeal. It was our 
privilege to be personally acquainted with one of the disciples of 
Blessed Clement Hoffbauer, the late Father Von Held. The wander- 
ing Community of Redemptorists was finally, in 1 8 17, settled in the 
Convent of Valsainte in Switzerland, under the direction of Father Pas- 
serat. It was here that Dom Augustin de l'Estrange had dwelt with 
his band of Trappists during the French Revolution. About the 
same time Father Hoffbauer sent some of his religious to Wallachia, 
but they were soon driven away. The saintly man died without be- 
holding the object of his desires reached, namel}', the recognition of the 
congregation by the Austrian government. Before his death, he had 
turned his eyes toward the United States, but it was not given to him 
to set foot on the shores of the New World, whither, a few years later, 
his disciples were to be called. Blessed Clement Hoffbauer died in 
Vienna on March 15th, 1820, at the age of 69. A recent decree of the 
Sovereign Pontiff has placed him among the blessed. The Redemp- 
torists justly consider Blessed Clement as the second founder of their 
congregation. Father Joseph Passerat succeeded him in the govern- 
ment of the Transalpine Congregation, A few years before the death 
of Blessed -Clement, the Rector-Major of the congregation, Father 
Blasucci, had died at Nocera de Pagani in 181 7, at the ripe age of 89. 
During his administration, there was founded in Rome the house of 
Santa Maria in Monterone. Father Blasucci was succeeded by Father 
Mansione. 

Less than two months after the death of Blessed Clement, the 
emperor of Austria, on April 30, 1820, gave his legal approbation 
to the congregation. Father Passerat established his residence at 
Vienna, where a numerous community soon arose. In the same year, 
1820, the Redemptorists entered France, establishing themselves in the 
diocese of Strasbourg. Six years later they went to Portugal, whence 
political agitations soon forced them to depart. In 1831 they began 
their foundations in Belgium, and the following year they established 
themselves in Bulgaria, where thev remained eight years. In 1824, 
Father Nicholas Mansione had been succeeded by Father Celestin 
Cocle. The latter, having been appointed Bishop in 1832, he wassuc- 
ceeded by Father Camillo Ripoli, in the beginning of whose govern- 
ment the congregation crossed over to America, as we shall presently 
relate. 



476 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The 26th of May, 1839, was a g reat day for the congregation, for on 
it, the holy founder, St. Alphonsus, was canonized. On July 2, 1841, 
a decree of Gregory XVI. divided the congregation into a certain 
number of provinces, although the congregation across the Alps still 
continued £0 be governed by a Vicar-General. Meanwhile, the congre- 
gation, though increasing in numbers, had to share amply in the suf- 
ferings of the Church in Austria and Switzerland. These, however, 
did not prevent it from obtaining foundations in Holland, Germany, 
and even Norway. In the latter country it did not remain for a great 
length of time. 

In 1850, Father Camillo Ripoli being dead, Father Vincent Trapan- 
eze became Rector-Major. Across the Alps, Father Passerat had, on 
account of old age, resigned his office, and he had been succeeded by 
Father Smetana. 

For a long time there had been a tendency to have the residence of 
the General removed to Rome. It was the great desire ol the Belgian 
Father, Victor Auguste Dechamps, who afterwards became Archbis- 
hop of Malines, and Cardinal. The Neapolitan government, however, 
persisted in opposing this measure. Finally, in 1853, Pope Pius IX. 
took a decisive action, decreeing that the Neapolitan houses should 
be separately governed until the arrival of better times, and that the 
Holy See would provide for the rest of the congregation. Mean- 
while Father Trapaneze had died. A little later the Holy See decreed 
that the Rector-Major of the congregation outside of the kingdom of 
the Two Sicilies should reside at Rome, where a general chapter 
should be immediately convened. The beautiful Villa Caserta on the 
Esquiline was purchased by the Redemptorists, and, in 1855, a gen- 
eral chapter met, in which Father Nicolas Mauron was elected Rec- 
tor-Major. Not long since, we sat in the modest room of the venerable 
General of the congregation, now broken by age and infirmities. In 
the course of conversation he exclaimed : "For thirty-seven years I 
have been at this table." For thirty-seven years, and during that time 
he has seen the congregation spread throughout Europe, North and 
South America, and Australia. Several of its children have died in the 
odor of sanctity, while others have been raised to the episcopal dignity, 
and one was honored with the Cardinal's hat. 1 

One of the most arduous missions of the Redemptorists is that of 
Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, where the Fathers attend the leper settle- 

1 Since these lines were written, the saintly Father Mauron has been called to a bet- 
ter world. A General Chapter of the congregation will meet in Rome on February 25, 
1894, for the election of a Rector-Major. 



THE REDEMPTORISTS. 



477 



ment of Batavia, and where more than one of their number has suc- 
cumbed to this dread disease. 

The general chapter of 1855 was the last one held in the congrega- 
tion. For some reason or other, known to those concerned, the rule 
prescribing a general chapter every nine years has temporarily been 
suspended, we believe, with permission of the Holy See. 

Some years since, the Neapolitan houses were again united to the 
greater body oi the congregation, which is now under one Superior. 



THE REDEMPTORISTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



FIRST REDEMPTORISTS IN AMERICA.— WORK AMONG THE GERMANS.— 
FATHER NEUMANN. — FATHER BERNARD. — ERECTION OF THE AMER- 
ICAN PROVINCE.— WORK OF THE MISSIONS. — THE PAULISTS.— DI- 
VISION OF THE PROVINCE. 

IT is related that as St. Alphonsus once looked out upon the bay of 
Naples, he beheld a vessel about to sail for New Orleans ; turning 
to his companion, he assured him that, one day, Fathers of his con- 
gregation would be established in that city. The prediction has been 
verified. 

In 1828, Father Rese, in the name of Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati, 
whose Vicar-General he was, invited the Austrian Redemptorists to 
America. After some negotiations, the offer was accepted, and three 
Fathers, with two lay-brothers, were sent to begin the foundations in 
America. On their arrival in this country, they found it impossible 
to live in community according to their rule, and, for many years, 
they labored separately in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, for the sal- 
vation of souls. Finally, in 1840, they succeeded in establishing their 
first community in Pittsburg, Penn. They proved to. have a provi- 
dential mission in the United States, for, about that period, German 
emigration began wonderfully to increase, and, without the Redemp- 
torists, thousands of that nation would have been lost to the faith, as 
German priests were few in number. It was, then, entirely according 
to the object of their institute, that the Redemptorists took charge of 
German congregations in Pittsburg, Buffalo, Rochester, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and other cities. This seems 
to have been the special work imposed on them by Divine Providence 
in this country. Whether, when there is a sufficient quantity of 
priests, they should continue to have the care of souls, is a subject well 
fitted for the deliberation of their next general chapter. 

The first novice admitted into the congregation in the United States 
was the saintly John Nepomucene Neumann, who afterwards be- 
came Bishop of Philadelphia, and the cause of whose canonization has 
been introduced. He made his vows on January 16th, 1842. Until 
the year 1844, the American missions in the United States had beea 

478 



THE REDE MP TORIS TS JN THE UNITED ST A TES. 479 



subject to the Austrian province, but, in that year, they were united 
to Belgium, of which Father Frederick Von Held was Provincial. In 
1847, Father Neumann became Vice-Provincial of the American Re- 
demptorists. The following year the congregation lost one of its best 
sons in the person of the saintly Father Francis Poilvache, a man re- 
nowned for his sanctity. He died at Monroe, Mich. 1 

In the same year Father Bernard Hafkenscheid, a Flollander, and 
one of the most renowned missionaries the congregation has ever pos- 
sessed, a man truly wonderful by the power of his eloquence, became 
the successor of Father Neumann as Vice-Provincial. 

On June 22nd, 1850, Pius IX. erected the Redemptorist houses in 
America into a separate province, and Father Bernard was appointed 
first Provincial. The congregation had now reached its second period. 
We hesitate not to say that the impulse given to missions in this 
country is due to the Redemptorists, and principally to Father Ber- 
nard, assisted by a small band of missionaries, prominent among whom 
were the young American priests, Hecker, Walworth, and Baker; 
Until then missions, in the proper sense, had been few and scattered, 
but Father Bernard and his companions set the example which was 
soon followed by other religious. 

A few years after the erection of the American province, five Re- 
demptorists, under the leadership of Father Hecker, separated from 
the Redemptorists in a body, being dispensed from their vows by the 
Sovereign Pontiff, and formed themselves into the Congregation of 
St. Paul the Apostle. 

Several years later, the American province was divided into two, 
namely that of Baltimore and that of St. Louis. 

Until within the last few years the Redemptorists in America had 
been principally of German descent, but at present the number of Irish 
Americans is rapidly increasing. The congregation at present possess- 
es twenty houses in the province of Baltimore, and seven in that of St. 
Louis. The Baltimore province has, also, several establishments in 
Canada. The Redemptorists have given missions in this country, not 
only in English and German, but, also, in French, Bohemian, Dutch, 
and even Italian. 

See Life of Father Francis Poilvache. — Ilchester, Md. 



THE REDEMPTORISTFNES. 



SISTER Maria Celeste Costarosa, to whose revelations the Congre- 
gation of the Most Holy Redeemer owes, in part, its origin, was, 
in i732,amemberof the Monastery of Nuns of the Holy Saviour, a com- 
munity founded at Scala a short time before by Mgr. Falcoia, bishop of 
Castellamare, and confessor of St. Alphonsus. The Sisters of this mon- 
astery followed the Rule of St. Augustin, and their habit was black. 
Their relations with St. Alphonsus brought about a complete change 
in their organization, so much so, that to-day they look upon the saint 
as their founder. He gave them their constitutions which, to a great 
extent, resemble those of the Redemptorists. The latter had, also, at 
first been called Priests of the Most Holy Saviour, but, in compliance 
with the desire of the Holy See, they had taken the title of Congrega- 
tion of the Most Holy Redeemer. The Nuns also changed their name, 
taking that of Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, as they constituted 
a veritable religious order, the nuns being bound by solemn vows. 
Mgr. Falcoia, their founder, had, also, taken a most active part in the 
establishment of the Redemptorists. Their rules and constitutions 
were approved by Benedict XIV., the same pontiff who approved those 
of the congregation of St. Alphonsus. In consequence of celestial vis- 
ions granted to one of the Sisters, they changed their black habit for 
the one worn at present, which consists of a red robe, blue scapular, and 
blue mantle. They wear white shoes, a rosary at the side, similar to 
that of the Redemptorists, and a crucifix like unto that worn by those 
Fathers on their missions. The veil of the choir-sisters is black, that 
of the lay-sisters, white. 

These nuns lead a life of strict enclosure, but they practise fewer bod- 
ily austerities than the Carmelites, Dominicans, and some other enclosed 
orders. Like the former, they wear a veil over their faces, in presence 
of strangers. They still follow the Rule of St. Augustin, and recite the 
Divine Office in choir. 

During the lifetime of St. Alphonsus, the order possessed several 
foundations in the kingdom of Naples, namely, at Scala, Foggia, and in 
the episcopal city of the saint, at St. Agatha ,of the Goths. The latter 
was established by St. Alphonsus himself. 

These nuns were introduced into Austria by Rev. Joseph Passerat, 

480 



THE REDEMP TORISTINES. 



481 



Vicar-General of the Transalpine branch of the Congregation of the 
Most Holy Redeemer. The first Sisters were Austrian ladies of rank, 
penitents of Father Passerat, who made their novitiate at St. Agatha, 
and afterwards returned to their own country. 

At present the order possesses several houses in Austria, Bavaria, 
Holland, Belgium, and France. It has also a flourishing community 
near Dublin in Ireland. Many of its members are ladies of high soci- 
ety. More than one has died in the odor of sanctity. 

This order is not governed by a General Superior, nor does it stand 
under the jurisdiction of the Redemptorists, although the Fathers are 
frequently the spiritual directors of its communities. Each monastery 
is subject to the Bishop of the diocese. 



BAPTISTINES. 



JANE SOLIMANI. — CONGREGATION OF WOMEN. — APPROBATION OF ROME.— 
FATHER OLIVIERI.— CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARY PRIESTS. 

THOSE who bear this name form a society of missionary priests un- 
der the protection of St. John the Baptist. 1 They owe their or- 
igin to a congregation of nuns of the same name. The foundress ot the 
latter, Jane Mary Baptist Solimani, was born in 1688 at Alburo, a par- 
ish situated near the city of Genoa. From her tenderest years she 
served God with great fidelity, and experienced within herself an ardent 
desire to make Him known throughout the world. She became a sub- 
ject of divine revelations and preternatural favors. Being in her thirty- 
first year she believed .that God revealed to her the desire of the Bles- 
sed Virgin, that an order should be founded in honor of St. John the 
Baptist, as such a one did not exist among the multitude of religious 
orders in the Church. The rule to be observed was at the same time 
made known to her. She communicated this vision to her director, 
Father Athanasius, a Capuchin. A year afterwards this priest ordered 
her to commit the rule to writing. This she did at once, though she 
had never learned to write. 

Under the direction of Don Dominic Francis Olivieri, Jane Solimani 
gathered together a few young girls, with whom she began a commu- 
nity life, living on alms, and taking conditionally the vows of poverty, 
chastity, obedience, and cloister. The number of her companions soon 
increased to such an extent that it became necessary to seek a larger 
dwelling. After some time, the foundress sought and obtained the ap- 
probation of Pope Benedict XIV., who allowed her to found a monas- 
tery, and approved her rule. On April 20th, 1746, she and her com- 
panions received the habit from the hands of the Archbishop of Genoa. 
The foundress changed her name from that of Maria Antonia to that 
•of Jane Mary Baptist. On July 21st of the same year, she was chosen 
Abbess, in which dignity she was, three months later, confirmed for life 
by the Sovereign Pontiff. She died on August 5th, 1758, Alter her 
death the order made great progress. 

The members of this order, who are called hermits, take solemn vows 
and lead a very austere life, practising, among other things, perpet- 

482 



BA P TIS TINES. 



483 



ual abstinence from flesh-meat, and a perpetual fast, with the exception 
of Christmas and Sundays. They arise at one o'clock in the night for 
the recitation of the Divine Office, and are allowed to see their relatives 
only three times a year. 

We have spoken here of the Baptistine nuns, although they are bound 
by solemn vows, on account, of their relation to the congregation of 
the Baptistines, for the same reason that we treated of the Redemp- 
toristines, together with the Redemptorists. 

Sister Jane Mary Baptist Solimani believed herself to be specially 
inspired for the establishment of a society of missionary priests, who 
would bind themselves by vow to establish missions in heretical, and 
infidel countries. 

After founding her monastery at Genoa, she sent her confessor, Fr. 
Dominic Francis Olivieri, to Rome, with the object of obtaining the 
authorization of such an institution. This priest, born at Genoa in 
1691, was renowned lor his talent of preaching, and he had established 
in his country a society of priests who devoted themselves to preach- 
ing the Word ot God in the city and in the country. 

Benedict XIV., having caused his rules to be examined, approved 
the projected society in 1755, under the title of Congregation of Mis- 
sionary Secular Priests of St. John the Baptist. It was placed under 
the jurisdiction of the Propaganda in order to spread the faith in the 
countries of infidels and heretics. 

The members of this congregation were employed in giving missions 
in Rome and other cities, besides sending apostolic laborers to China 
and other foreign countries. Father Olivieri died on June 13th, 1766. 
Several miracles were, after his death, wroughtthrough his intercession. 

The members of this congregation take a vow of stability in the 
institute, and one of going to missionary fields of labor at the bidding 
of the Prefect of the Propaganda. It was forbidden them to preach 
in Catholic parishes, and to hear the confessions of women. They were 
also forbidden to accept any ecclesiastical dignity. They practise to 
perfection the life of community, and have lay-brothers in their con- 
gregation, to whom they give the name of Brothers-Coadjutors. Their 
habit very much resembles that of the Lazarists. Pope Pius VI. had 
been a member of this congregation. 



CONGREGATION OF THE SACRED HEARTS OF JESUS 
AND MARY, AND OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION 
OF THE BLESSED SACRAiMENT, CALLED THE 
CONGREGATION OF PICPUS. 



PERE COUDRIN. — MADAME DE LA CHEVALLERIE. — SOCIETY OF RELIG- 
IOUS WOMEN AT POITIERS. — HOUSE AT PICPUS. — MISSION TO THE 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. — FATHER DAMIEN. — RULE OF ST. BENEDICT. 

^PHE founders of this society, which was established at Poitiers, in 



X 1800, were M. P. J. Coudrin and Madame H. Aymer de la Chev- 
allerie. Pierre Joseph Coudrin, born in 1768, was ordained priest in 
Paris in 1792, in the very midst ol the Revolution, and at the risk of 
his life. Being vested with this sacred character, he began to exercise 
the duties of his calling, but in secret; sometimes in a hiding place, at 
other times in disguise, with an assumed name. Even surrounded by 
these numerous dangers, the thought of instituting a religious congre- 
gation of men and women arose within him. An association of pious 
ladies had been formed, and to their number belonged Mademoiselle 
Henriette Aymer de la Chevallerie. This lady was born at Poitiers 
in 1767. In 1778 she was honored with the title of Canoness of the 
Order of Malta. During the horrible days of the sanguinary Revo- 
lution she was imprisoned, together with her mother, and she escaped 
narrowly with her life. It was after this that she joined the pious 
association at Poitiers. This institution soon ripened into a society 
of which Henriette became the head. Its object was the veneration 
of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mar}', the Perpetual Adoration of 
the Blessed Sacrament, and the gratuitous instruction of young girls. 
In 1800, the society was approved by the ecclesiastical authorities of 
Poitiers, and Madame Henriette was confirmed as Perpetual Superior 
of the community. The institute now began to develop. About the 
year 1805, the members of the community established themselves at 
Picpus, whence they were to receive their popular designation, and 
which, once before, had given its name to a religious community, one 
of the Third Order of St. Francis, to which father Helyot belonged. 
Father Coudrin built here a college and seminary, which soon became 
the principal seat of the congregation of men he established. This 




THE CONGREGATION OF PIC PUS. 



485 



society was approved by the Holy See on January ioth, 1817. A 
number of Irishmen entered the congregation, and one of them, Bish- 
op Higgins, became a member of the episcopacy of his native island. 
In the first General Chapter, held in 18 19, Father Coudrin was elected 
Perpetual Superior of the congregation, which now began to spread 
throughout France. In 1826, at the request of the Propaganda, Father 
Coudrin sent his missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, whence they 
were expelled, but to which they returned in 1837, One of the mis- 
sionaries to these islands, the late Father Damian de Venster, acquired 
world-wide renown as the leper-martyr of Molokai. A few years 
after their first establishment in the Sandwich Islands, in 1833, the 
Fathers of this congregation were also sent to the missions of southern 
Oceania. On March 27, 1837, the founder, Father Coudrin, departed this 
life. He had been preceded to the grave on November 23, 1834, by 
Madame Henriette Aymer de la Chevallerie. The name in religion 
of Father Coudrin was Marie-Joseph. The Society of Picpus has ob- 
tained numerous missions in Australia and South America. 

The basis of the rule of this congregation is that of St. Benedict. 
Its members take the ordinary simple vows of religion. The Sisters 
live under the obedience of their Mother-General and of the General 
of the congregation, who are elected for life. The priests of the congre- 
gation are engaged in missionary work, and in the direction of seminaries 
and colleges. Besides these, there is a second class of religious called 
choir-brothers, whose duty it is to recite daily the canonical hours, prac- 
tise the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and give gratu- 
itous instruction to children. The lay-brothers are devoted to manual 
labor, and, also, to perpetual adoration. A similar classification 
exists among the Sisters, who are either teachers, choir-religious, or 
lay-sisters. The habit of the membersof this congregation asprescribed 
by both statutes, is white. During the hours of adoration both Brothers 
and Sisters wear a scarlet mantle. 



i 



BASILIANS. 



MGR. D'AVIARE. — EDUCATION FOR THE PRIESTHOOD. — HUMBLE BEGIN- 
NING—ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOCIETY. — TORONTO AND SAND- 
WICH, ONT. — NATURE OF THE INSTITUTE. 

A FTER the stormy days of the French Revolution, when France 



f\ was beginning to recover from the wound it had received, Mgr. 
d'Aviare, Archbishop of Vienne, and afterwards Archbishop of Bor- 
deaux, paid a visit to the tomb of St. Francis Regis, in the mountains 
of Vivarais. Beholding with grief the great want of priests in that 
portion of the Lord's vineyard, he conceived the idea of establishing 
an asylum where young men might in a short space of time be ed- 
ucated for the priesthood. Three priests entered into his views, and 
began in a stable to teach the elements of Latin to young peasant boys. 
This institution, so humble in its- origin, was founded at St. Symphor- 
ien. This community of priests thus begun continued to increase and 
prosper until 1821, when several of its members left it to enter the 
parochial ministry. Five priests only remained, and these formed an 
association among themselves, taking, however, no vows. Several 
years before, the school begun at St. Symphorien had been transferred 
to Annonay. In 1822, the congregation took the title of St. Basil. 
The establishment of the association as such was especially due to Mgr. 
Brulley de la Bruniere, Bishop of Mende. 

In the beginning, its members promised to spend their life in the 
congregation, and not to leave it without informing the Superior of 
their intention three years beforehand, and renewing their petition 
each year in writing. They received an annual sum of 200 francs for 
their clothing. In 1852, however, they agreed to take vows which 
were to be temporary after a novitiate of four years, and perpetual 
after the reception of Holy Orders. 

In the same year, Mgr. de Charbonnel, Bishop of Toronto, Canada, 
who had been their pupil, called them to his diocese. Their college at 
Toronto, begun with eleven pupils, had increased to the number of 
one hundred by the year 1856. It bears the title of St. Michael's Col- 
lege, and it has a church attached to it, dedicated to St. Basil. A few 
years since, the author preached the exercises of a spiritual retreat to 




BA SI LI A NS. 



487 



the students of this college, and he will always remember with pleasure 
the edification given him by the members of the Congregation of St 
Basil. 

The congregation possesses also a flourishing college at Sandwich, 
Ont, in the diocese of London. The present Bishop of that diocese, Rt. 
Rev. Denis O'Connor, was, before his elevation to the episcopacy, a 
member of the Basilian Congregation, and president of the college of 
Sandwich. The Basilians have, also, a house in Detroit, Mich., where 
they administer the French Canadian parish of St. Ann's, one of the 
oldest parishes in the United States, founded in the beginning of the 
last century, and the scene of the labors of Fr. Gabriel Richard, who, 
for a time, was a member of the United States Congress. 

The object of the Basilian Congregation is the Christian education 
of youth in general, and, in particular, the direction of ecclesiastical col- 
leges, or fietits-seminaires. It also embraces every other sacerdotal 
ministry compatible with the life of community. In 1837, Pope Greg- 
ory XV I. declared the Congregation of St Basil to be a praiseworthy 
institution. 

The Basilians have educated numbers of useful members of the 
Church and society, and many religious orders, especially the Jesuits, 
have drawn subjects from their colleges. 



IRISH CHRISTIAN BROTHERS. 

IN the year 1802, there resided at Waterford in Ireland, a pious gen- 
tleman named Edmond Ignatius Rice, a native of Callan, in the 
county of Kilkenny. His heart was pained at witnessing the unfortunate 
condition of so many poor children, who, in consequence of the penal 
laws, were deprived of Catholic education. On a certain day he drew 
a number of these poor children around him, and by questioning them, 
discovered how devoid they were of the most necessary knowledge of 
the elements of their religion. On this occasion he conceived the 
noble thought of devoting his life and ample fortune to the education 
of the poor. 

He opened his first school at Mount Sion in the city of Waterford, 
on May r, 1804, and great success attended him. He adopted the 
system and the rules of the institute founded by Blessed de La Salle, 
and enjoyed the patronage of the Bishop of Waterford. The congrega- 
tion began to spread, and, within a few years, houses had been founded 
in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and other places. The institute was con- 
firmed by Pius VII. on September 5, 1820. At present the congrega- 
tion possesses houses in nearly every town in Ireland, and in several 
of the British colonies. In 1832, the Brothers placed their schools for 
a time in connection with the Board of National Education, and accept- 
ed the grant, but finding that the rules of the Board would gradually 
lead them into concessions alien from the spirit of the Church, they 
withdrew from all connection with the government. 



BROTHERS OF CHARITY. 

THE founder oi this congregation, called the Vincent de Paul of 
Belgium, was Pierre Joseph Triest, born at Brussels in 1760. 
He was ordained priest in 1786. A man of extraordinary virtue, he 
sought by various means to exercise charity towards his neighbor. In 
1807 he laid the foundations of the society of the Brothers of Charity 
in the Asylum for aged men at Ghent. His success, however, did not 
reach the height of his expectations, and on November 7th, 18 10, he 
was obliged to begin his institute oyer again, giving to the Brothers, 
with certain modifications, the rules he had made for a community of 
Sisters. They were approved on November 26th, of the same year, by 
Mgr. de Broglie, Bishop of Ghent. The congregation, of which, as 
its name denotes, the object is the practise of charitable works, con- 
tinued to flourish in Belgium after the death of its founder, and ob- 
tained many establishments in that country. 

These Brothers have several establishments in Canada, and in the 
United States. They conduct the House of the Angel Guardian in 
Boston. 



THE BUFALISTS, OR, MISSIONARIES OFTHE PRECIOUS 

BLOOD. 



CASPAR DE BUFALO.— PIOUS YOUTH. — EXILE.— MISSIONS.— SPREAD OF 
THE CONGREGATION. — THE UNITED STATES. 

HE founder of this congregation, Caspar de Bufalo, was born in 



X Rome, on January 6th, 1786. His early years were spent in the 
greatest piety in that city where everything inspires sentiments of re- 
ligion. Like the angelic youth, St. Aloysius de Gonzaga, to whom he 
was especially devout, he endeavored, above all things, to preserve 
the purity of soul and body, using to that end the most scrupulous 
precautions. He made his classical course in the Roman College, ren- 
dered illustrious by the life of his model, St Aloysius, and which still 
preserves so many recollections of- the y outhful saint. After a long 
retreat made at the Cistercian Monastery of Santa Croce in Geru- 
salemme, he received tonsure in the year 1800, and, soon after, 
minor orders. He became Canon of the Church of St. Mark before 
his ordination to the priesthood, which took place on July 31st, 1808. 
He had followed the course of theology in the Roman College. Dur- 
ing the political troubles in Rome in the beginning of this century, 
refusing to take the oath required by the French government, he was 
sent into exile, and he afterwards suffered a painful imprisonment. 

About the year 1814, after his return to Rome, he conceived the 
project of establishing a society of priests to give missions. The 
tnought had frequently occurred to him, and now the time seemed 
ripe to put it into execution. Through the influence of Cardinal Cris- 
taldi, he obtained for the purpose, the Church of Giano in the diocese 
of Spoleto. He was soon joined by three companions, among whom 
was Gaetano Bonanni. In 1819, a second house was founded at Pieve- 
torina in the diocese of Camerino, and, soon after, a third at St. Paul 
d' Albano. These were shortly after followed by six other foundations 
by the express desire of the Pope, Pius VII. 

The rules of his congregation he did not entirely complete until to- 
wards the end of his life. His devotion to the Precious Blood of our 
Lord caused him to give no other name to his institute. After a most 
laborious life, during which he gave numerous missions throughout 




490 



THE B UFA L IS TS. 



491 



Italy, following the method of the renowned Italian missionaries, 
St. Alphonsus, Segneri, Pinamonti, Baldinucci, and St. Leonard of 
Port Maurice, he departed this life on December 28th, 1837. The 
cause of his canonization has been introduced, and, on January 15th, 
1852, he was declared venerable by Pius IX. 

A few years after his death, in the year 1844, his congregation was 
introduced into the United States by one of its members, Rev. Fran- 
cis de Sales Brunner. It was established in the diocese of Cleveland. 
The residence of the Provincial in the United States is at Carthagena, 
Ohio. These Fathers also possess other establishments in the diocese 
of Cleveland. 

There is also a female branch of the congregation which possesses 
convents in the dioceses of Cincinnati and Cleveland. 



THE MARISTS OR, PRIESTS OF THE SOCIETY OF 

MARY. 



FIRST IDEA OF THE SOCIETY— COMMUNITY ESTABLISHED. — MISSIONS IN 
OCEANIA.— BLESSED CHANEL.— MARTYRDOM.— THE MARISTS IN 
' AMERICA. 

IN the year 1 8 1 5, certain students of the seminary of St. Irenaeus at 
Lyons, formed among themselves the project of founding a so- 
ciety of priests, which should bear the name of the Blessed Virgin, 
and devote itself to the education of youth and the conversion of 
sinners. The day after their ordination, they consecrated themselves 
to the Blessed Virgin in the sanctuary of Fourvieres, and resolved to 
devote their lives to the realization of their idea. Dispersed in various 
portions of the dioceses of Lyons and Belley, they patiently awaited 
the moment decreed by Divine Providence. Year after year they 
met once or twice to renew their resolutions. Finally they were en- 
abled to unite into a society, and with the approbation of the bishops 
of Lyons and Belley, to devote themselves to the work of the missions 
and the education of youth. In 1836, they obtained a Bull of Gregory 
XVI., which approved and canonically instituted the Society of Mary, 
permitting its members to take the three simple vows of religion. On 
the 24th of September of the same year, the first members made their 
profession, and Father Jean Claude Colin was elected Superior-General 
and the mother-house was established at Lyons. The congregation 
soon made rapid progress in France, and in 1852 it was divided into 
two provinces. In 1856, the Marists founded a house in London. In 
the year of its approbation the missions of Oceania were confided to 
this congregation, and, by a Brief of Gregory XVI., in 1836, the Apos- 
tolic Vicariate of Western Oceania was established and given to the 
Marists. These Fathers were the first missionaries to visit many of 
these islands of the Pacific. Immense difficulties surrounded them, 
especially in learning the language of the natives, and in accustoming 
themselves to their manner of living. Imagine yourself bidding 
farewell to the land of your birth, a land to which you are attached 
with all the ardor of an intensely patriotic heart, tearing yourself loose 
from those you hold most dear, to see them perhaps never again, scal- 

492 



THE MA R1S TJS. 



493 



ing the sides of a ship that is to bear you thousands of miles away, and 
land you on unknown islands amidst the watery wastes of the great Pa- 
cific, among wild savages, where numberless privations and perhaps cru- 
el death will meet you, and you will form an idea of the sacrifice demand- 
ed of the Marist missionary. The danger of a violent death was not an 
imaginary one ; it was a stern reality, for on April 28th, 1841, a mem- 
ber of the Society of Mary was put to death by natives on the island 
of Futunat. It was Father Chanel, who, together with the Lazarist, 
Gabriel Perboyre, has lately been beatified by Leo XIII. The blood 
of the martyr was the seed of Christians, for the islanders were con- 
verted as if by a spontaneons movement. 

In 1842, Gregory XVI. instituted the Apostolic Vicariate of Cen- 
tral Oceania, which he also confided to the Marists. Two other vicar- 
iates were erected by Pius IX. in 1844, those of Melanesia and of 
Micronesia. The Marist Fathers possess also missions in New Zealand, 
and, in 1845, a house was founded in Sydney, Australia. 

Blessed Chanel was not the only victim who fell on those distant 
islands. A brother was murdered in 1847; Mgr. Epalle, Vicar-Apos- 
tolic of Melanesia, was massacred on December 16, 1845, by the natives 
of Isabella island, and, in 1847, three Marists were killed and eaten by 
the savages of the island of St. Christoval. 

The Marist Fathers possess several foundations in the United States, 
with a preparatory college in the diocese of Portland, and a novitiate 
in that of Baltimore. They have a college in Louisiana, and founda- 
dations in Boston, St. Paul, and other cities. 

Several other communities are affiliated to the Marist congregation, 
such as the Marist Brothers, who devote themselves to teaching, and 
who were founded by a Marist Father, and the Marist Sisters, who are 
also a teaching congregation. The Marists have also a third order 
for persons living in the world. It was established in virtue of an 
Apostolic Brief, dated September 8th, 1850. 



OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE. 



MGR. DE MAZENOD. — MISSIONS IN FRANCE. — CANADA. — SANCTUARIES OF 
OUR LADY.— FOUNDATIONS ABROAD— THE UNITED STATES. 

THE founder of this congregation, Charles Joseph Eugene de Maz- 
enod, having finished his studies at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, 
and having been ordained priest in 1811, determined to consecrate his 
Hie to the service of the poor. In the city of Aix where he resided, 
his labors for the salvation of souls of all classess of persons were im- 
mense. His charity nearly cost him his life, for, in 18 14, he was 
attacked by typhus while ministering to the sick during an epidemic 
which raged among the prisoners of war in the dungeons of Aix. But 
his work was not yet done, and the Abbe Mazenod was restored to 
health. Those da}' s were bitter ones for the Church of France, for the 
Revolution had left nothing but ruin and desolation in its path, The 
young priest felt himself, alone as he was, unequal to the task that lay 
before him, and the thought of founding a community of zealous, dis- 
interested priests, arose before his mind. Divine Providence soon 
furnished him the means of putting it into execution, for, a few com- 
panions having joined him, he obtained possession of a portion of the 
former Carmelite convent of Aix into which he received them. After a 
few days spent in pious meditation as a preparation for their work, they 
went forth to labor for the salvation of souls. They gave missions in 
country parishes, and, after their work, returned home to take up the ex- 
ercises of the community life. In the intervals between the missions, 
the Abbe Mazenod, withdrawn into solitude, prepared the rules of his 
newly-born community. 

Until the year 1841, the founder and his disciples labored exclusively 
in the South of France. In that year, Mgr. Bourget, bishop of Mon- 
treal in Canada, applied to M. Mazenod for some of his sons as work- 
ers in his diocese across the Atlantic. The Oblat.es had, thus far, not 
seemed to aspire to foreign missions, but Providence had opened the 
way. Their founder, Mgr. de Mazenod, then bishop of Marseilles, 
sent a circular letter to the different houses of his congregation, pro- 
posing to them the new mission offered by Mgr. Bourget, and inquiring 

the names of those who were ready to devote themselves to that distant 

494 



OB LATE 8 OF MARY IMMACULATE, 



495 



field of labor. A unanimous answer came from the entire congrega- 
tion, every individual offering to go to Canada. The mission was 
accepted. 

Some years before, in 1826, the founder had gone to Rome to obtain 
the approbation of his institute. The Roman Congregations are very 
prudent in formally approving a new religious institute, and conse- 
quently a decree was granted that the new congregation was simply lau- 
danda, — praiseworthy. Leo XII., however, was more favorably inclined, 
and he ordered a serious examination of its constitutions under the 
presidency of Cardinal Pacca. The result was that, on February 17, 
1826, the congregation was approved under the title of Congregation 
of Oblate Missionaries of Most Holy Mary Immaculate. Twenty 
years later the congregation was confirmed by Gregory XVI., on 
March 20th, 1846. In 1850, Mgr. Mazenod presented to the general 
chapter of his congregation a supplement to the rules and constitutions. 
It was laid before the Holy See, and Pius IX., on March 28th, 185 1, 
approved the institute anew. 

The congregation up to this time had spread wonderfully in France 
and abroad. In its native country it obtained charge of a great many 
celebrated sanctuaries of the Blessed Virgin, such as Notre Dame de 
FOsier, in the diocese of Grenoble ; Notre Dame de Sion, in Lorraine ; 
Notre Dame de Clery, in the diocese of Orleans ; Notre Dame de Tal- 
ence, at Bordeaux; Notre Dame de Bon Secours, in Vivarais ; Notre 
Dame des Lumieres, in the diocese of Avignon ; and Notre Dame de la 
Garde, at Marseille. 

The Fathers of this congregation also direct several seminaries in 
the same country. They have foundations and missions in England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, on the Island of Ceylon, and in Africa, at the 
Cape of Good Hope, and at Natal. 

In Canada the Oblates possess many and flourishing institutions. 
St. Peter's church, in Montreal, is served by them, and they have a 
novitiate at Lachine. At Ottawa they have a Scholasticate, and con- 
duct a university, to which a numerous staff of professors is attached. 
The greater number of priests in the diocese of St. Boniface belongs 
to their congregation. They also attend to the diocese of New West- 
minster, in British Columbia, that of St. Albert, a suffragan See of St. 
Boniface, and the Apostolic Vicariates of Athabaska-Mackenzie, and 
Saskatchewan, and they have establishments in the Vicariate of Pontiac 
and the Prefecture-Apostolic of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Several 
bishops in British North America belong to their congregation. 

In the United States they form a separate province, possessing foun- 
dations in the dioceses of Boston, Buffalo, and others. 



SOCIETY OF THE LITTLE BROTHERS OF MARY. 



THIS congregation was founded in France on January 2d, 1817, by 
a holy priest, the Abbe Marcelin Champagnat, who was, also, one 
of the founders of the Marist congregation, and who died on June 6th, 
1840. In 1844 these Brothers were united with those of St. Paul Trois- 
Chateaux, and those of Viviers. Thus were three separate societies 
united into one. There had been question of uniting the Marist Fathers 
and these Brothers under the same head, but the Holy See refused 
to grant its approbation to this project. 



THE JOSEPHITES. 



A CONGREGATION of this name was founded in 1 8 1 7 at Grammont 
in Belgium, by the Canon Van Crombrugghe. It is a teaching 
society consisting of priests and simple Brothers, the latter being in 
the majority. After a novitiate of two years, the members take the 
three vows of religion. The society possesses several foundations in 
Belgium, and one in England at Weybridge. 



THE INSTITUTE OF MARY. 



THIS congregation was founded in 1818 by the Abbe Joseph Cham- 
inade in the city of Bordeaux, together with seven young men, 
and Auguste Pinier was named first Superior. They adopted no spec- 
ial habit, and agreed to' avoid all that might attract notice, going even 
so far as to avoid the title of Brother, calling each simply Monsieur y 
However, they took as badge a golden ring. Within a short time they 
began the work of education in Bordeaux. From this city the congre- 
gation began to spread to various portions of France, taking deepest 
root in Alsace. In course of time the Abbe Meyer brought it over to 
the United States, and, though severely tried, the society has met 
with success. 



CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY CROSS. 



BROTHERS OF ST. JOSEPH.— REMOVAL TO LE MANS.— THE SALVATOR- 
ITES. — SISTERS MARIANITES. — FOREIGN MISSIONS.— FATHER SOUR- 
IN. — UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME. — CHARACTER OF THE INSTITUTE. 

IN the year 1820, the parish of Ruille-sur-Loir in France was gov- 
erned by the Abbe Jacques Dujarie, a zealous priest, who had 
established a community of women for the education of young girls. 
Desirous of imparting the advantage of Christian instruction also to 
boys, he resolved to found a congregation of Brothers under the title 
of the Patronage of St. Joseph. In 1823 he obtained from King Louis 
XVIII., a royal ordinance authorizing this institution for the depart- 
ment of Sarthe and neighboring-departments. However, the numerous 
occupations of the founder, his growing infirmities, and the Revolution 
of 1830, greatly retarded the progress of his institute. The result was 
that M. Dujarie resigned his office of Superior into the hands of Mgr. 
Bouvier, Bishop of Le Mans. The prelate having called together a 
general assembly of the Brothers in 1835, confided them to M. Moreau, 
Director of the Seminary. By a decision of an assembly of the 
Brothers convoked by M. Moreau, the novitiate was transferred 
from Ruille to Le Mans. 

About this time M. Moreau was engaged in forming a society of 
diocesan missionaries to evangelize the inhabitants of country places. 
He soon decided to unite both these societies into one. Many were 
the difficulties the pious Superior had to encounter, but he finally tri- 
umphed over them all. Besides several educational institutions, a 
boarding-school was opened in the house of the Holy Cross, at Le Mans, 
with the authorization of M. Guizot, the minister of King Louis- Phil- 
ippe, while the diocesan missions began to flourish. 

From the beginning, M. Moreau had conceived the idea of also estab- 
lishing a community of Sisters for the service of his institutions. Sev- 
eral pious women having offered to take charge of the clothing in the 
various establishments without any compensation, they became the 
germs of the congregation of the Sisters Marianites. The Superior 
gave them a religious habit, and thus were laid the foundations of 
the female branch of this community which has been so rapidly devel- 
oped. The members attend to the linen in the larger establishments 

499 



500 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of tiie congregation, and take charge of the infirmaries. They also 
instruct )'Oung persons of their sex. 

Thus far the members of the congregation had not been bound by 
perpetual vows, nor had the priests taken any, even of a temporal 
character. M. Moreau thinking that the time had arrived to draw the 
members of the congregation closer by the ties of vows, proposed it 
to them, but the proposal was not well receivedl However, the Super- 
ior, determined to execute his plans, resolved to introduce the vows, 
even at the cost of several members. It was, nevertheless, decided 
that these vows would be optional, provided the members would sub- 
mit to the regulations which would be drawn up. A few members 
left the community, while those who remained, binding themselves by 
vows, formed a religious congregation. The prosperity of the congre- 
gation was beginning, in spite of some opposition it had to encounter. 

A voice from two distant countries summoned the Fathers and 
Brothers to cross the ocean and take charge of schools and orphan 
asylums. Mgr. De la Haillandiere, bishop of Vincennes in the United 
States, and Mgr. Dupuch, first bishop of Algiers, had both petitioned 
for members of the congregation. In 1840, three priests and seven 
Brothers departed for Algiers, where the bishop confided to them the 
direction of a petit-seminaire, an orphan asylum, and several other 
works. One priest, Rev. E. Sourin, and six Brothers crossed over to 
America and established themselves in Indiana, not far from Vincennes. 
Soon after they moved the scene of their labors through the woods to 
St. Mary of the Lakes, the place now occupied by the flourishing Uni- 
versity of Notre Dame. Here they cleared the lands, built houses, 
established a college with novitiates for Fathers and Brothers, and a 
flourishing colony sprang up on the spot under the direction of the 
Superior, Father Sourin. Later on, the Sisters Marianites arrived, and 
established themselves in the neighborhood, whence they branched out 
to various other portions ol the United States. 

Meanwhile the French hierarchy accorded its approbation to the 
new congregation, though that of the government was not obtained 
until the year 1848. M. Moreau was elected Superior of the entire so- 
ciety, which was divided into three portions : the priests, who were 
called Salvatorites, they being specially consecrated to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus ; the Brothers, to whom the name of Josephites was given 
on account of their having adopted St. Joseph as their patron, and the 
Sisters, who bore that of Marianites in honor of Mary, under whose pro- 
tection they were placed. Father Louis Dominic Champeau was elected 
special Superior of the priests, Father Peter Chappe, of the Brothers, 
and Father Edward Sourin, of the Sisters. The latter resided in In* 



CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY CROSS. 



501 



diana, whither the mother-house of the Marianites was transferred on 
account of the opposition of the bishop of Le Mans. The entire con- 
gregation took the title of the Holy Cross. 

In 1847, a colony of seven Josephites and four Marianites established 
itself at St. Laurent, in the diocese of Montreal in Canada, and, in 1849, 
one priest, five Josephites, and four Marianites founded establishments 
in New Orleans, and gave rise to the province of Louisiana. The year 
following, the Superior himself, Father Moreau, opened a house in 
Rome for the care of poor abandoned children. A house of studies 
soon followed, and the Italian province thus began its existence. In 
1852 the congregation accepted the missions of Eastern Bengali. 

In 1856, Pius IX. approved the Salvatorites and Josephites in one 
congregation, but delayed the matter in regard to the Marianites, but 
the approbation for the latter was, afterwards, obtained. The congrega- 
toin soon became very flourishing. In France it obtained a number of 
foundations. In America it founded the celebrated University of Notre 
Dame, and established schools of the Brothers and Sisters in Cincin- 
nati, Louisville, Toledo, Washington, Baltimore, New York, and other 
places. 

The end which this society proposes to itself is to form missionaries, 
professors for all branches of learning, and teachers of schools for the 
people. It embraces nearly all kinds of good works. It is governed 
by a Superior-General, aided b}^ two assistants, and a council. Every 
three years a general chapter meets to discuss the affairs of the con- 
gregation. The ecclesiastics of the congregation take publicly the 
three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, if they are 
twenty-one years of age. In case they are younger, they take the same 
vows privately before their Superior. Their novitiate lasts one or two 
years. The Brothers take temporary vows until they are twenty-five, 
when they are admitted to the profession of perpetual vows. The Sis- 
ters, also, make their profession at the age of twenty-five. A fourth 
vow, that of going to foreign missions, if sent by the Superior,is optional, 
and those who have not taken this vow are never sent on such missions 
but with their consent. Their vow of povert} T does not forbid the pos- 
session of property, but prohibits its use without the consent of the 
Superiors. 

The rule does not prescribe bodily austerities, but leaves these to the 
spiritual directors. The exercises of these religious consist in medi- 
tation, Holy Mass, particular examination of conscience, the recitation 
of the Rosary, spiritual reading, a weekly chapter of faults, a monthly 
retreat of one day, and the annual spiritual exercises. 



BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART. 



M. COINDRE.— INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. — SALARIED TEACHERS. — 
BROTHER XAVIER.— -RULES OF THE CONGREGATION.— NOTRE DAME 
DE FOURVIERE. — INCREASE OF THE INSTITUTE. — WORK IN AMERICA. 

^"pHE Institute of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart had its birth in 

Lyons, France, in 1820. 

Its beginning was humble, and its origin, similar to the origin of 
most religious communities, was rather due to a peculiar train of cir- 
cumstances than to a preconceived plan. 

The French Revolution had left Catholic France covered with ruins. 
Revolution and accompanying wars had well nigh destroyed faith, and 
in destroying those institutions founded for the religious instruction of 
the people had rendered difficult the return of souls to faith. 

A noble body of men, united together under a rule, and known as 
the Society des Missionnaircs de France, spread over the land, and for }^ears 
preached missions in all the principal centres of population. 

Rev. Father Andre Coindre was a leader in that band, whose every 
member became later eminent in the Church. He was born in Lyons 
in 1787. His early education he owed entirely to his pious mother. 
She was the strong woman that taught him to know God and his holy 
Church when churches were closed and the name of God proscribed. 

In 1809, he entered the seminary of St. Irenee, and he was ordained 
priest in 1812, on June 4th. 

In his native city of Lyons, he found many children left homeless 
and growing up in ignorance of God. For these he wanted to provide a 
shelter; and to rescue them from their sad destitution he founded a 
" Providence," an asvlum with trade-school annexed. This foundation 
w r as made in 181 5. To take care of these children, he had laymen, to 
whom he paid salaries. 

He soon found that these men did not answer his expectations, nei- 
ther concerning the temporal nor spiritual care of his boys. 

It is then that Father Coindre resolved to establish a society of men 
who would be ready to consecrate their lives to the Christian educa- 
tion of children. 

The biographer of Father Coindre, speaking ol this period of his life, 

502 



BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART. 



603 



adds: "Providence, which places heroic designs in the hearts of the saints, 
knows also how to furnish means for executing these same designs. 
Called from above to enlighten souls, and cause them to produce fruit, 
saints never remain solitary. Around them, as around stars, appear, 
at the time marked by God, docile satellites, who follow them in their 
revolutions." Father Coindre informed two of his helpers of the de- 
sign he had. He asked them if they would be willing to give up their 
life, to serve God in His poor, and enter the Institute he intended to 
found. One of those men told him he felt no taste for that mode of 
life. The other, Guillaume Arnaud, after mature reflection, declared 
himself willing to second the good Father in his design. " I know the 
world," said that good young man, "and I feel the need of abandoning 
it for ever. What I desire above all is to consecrate myself to God in 
religion, and devote my life to the service of youth." 

On hearing this, Father Coindre, much moved, embraced the young 
man and announced to him that he should be the first member of the 
new congregation. From this moment, young Arnaud, known later 
as Brother Xavier, was placed in charge of the asylum or Providence. 
This was in 1820, Irom which elate we may say the Institute of the 
Brothers of the Sacred Heart began. A few months after, a second 
young man, whom Father Coindre had met in preaching his missions, 
was sent to help the courageous first member. These two humble 
young men were the corner-stone upon which the pious founder in- 
tended to raise a monument to God. 

On Sept. 24, 1 82 1, eleven members had already grouped themselves 
around Father Coinelre, ready to help him to carry out his noble de- 
sign. The founder being persuaded that the characteristics which go 
to form a community, to render it distinct from other societies, and 
make it what it is intended to be by God, must be firmly impressed 
upon it from the very beginning, gathered his disciples around him, 
explained to them their vocation, and gave them an exalted idea of the 
sublime mission they were called to accomplish toward little ones. 
He directed himself the exercises of the first retreat they made. The 
retreat began on Sept. 24th and closed on the 30th. As a fit closing to 
their retreat Father Coindre conducted all his Brothers to the sanc- 
tuary of our Lady of Fourviere, where he celebrated Mass for them. 
He there consecrated them to the Blessed Virgin, and placed his 
foundation under the protection of that good Mother. It is from that 
dav, properly speaking, that dates the birth of the Institute of the 
Brothers of the Sacred Heart. 

, Having constituted his Brothers into a congregation, under the name 
of Brothers of the Sacred Heart, he gave them as a guide the rule of 



504 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



St. Augustin and the constitutions of St. Ignatius. He preferred to 
wait before giving them rules exactly suitable to the new life they 
were to live, saying that experience alone could dictate the prop- 
er regulations to adopt, that experience alone could tell what to do 
and what to avoid. " The future will show us how to regulate every 
thing. God took six days to bring forth His creation out of chaos, and 
from this you must know that much time is required before a com- 
munity is firmly established on a solid basis. Great patience and a 
stout heart can conquer all obstacles." Thus spoke the founder. 

This same year, two schools were opened, new young men were re- 
ceived, and a strong nucleus formed, around which future work would 
progress. However, before the congregation was thoroughly organ- 
ized, Father Coindre was carried off by death in 1826, and his spiritual 
children, young in religion and lacking in the experience needed for 
their work, found themselves orphans, and alone. 

Father Andre left to the Brothers, to replace him, his own brother 
Vincent, who, since 1821, was filling the functions of chaplain at the 
Providence of Lyons. Father Vincent knew his brother's intentions, 
and the spirit that was to vivify his foundation. The community un- 
der him kept on its mission, but developed very slowly. Contradic- 
tions, troubles, and troubled times, helped to discourage many a heart. 

In 1823, the novitiate was established at Monistrol, then it was trans- 
ferred to Lyons in 1827, and, finally settled at Paradis near le Puy in 
1838. Since this last date the principal novitiate is there. In con- 
junction with the novitiate at Paradis, the Brothers in France have a 
juvenate at Chirac in the diocese of Mendes. The intention of the 
founder was that the Brothers should be governed by a Superior be- 
longing to the community, bound by the same vows and the same rule. 
As soon as the required elements were found in the Institute, Rev. V. 
Coindre entered his resignation, and, in 1841, Brother Polycarp was 
elected Superior-General, a position he held till his death, which took 
place on Jan. 9th, 1859. 

His successor, Brother Adrian, was elected March 25th, 1859, an d he 
continued in office till death took him away from his Brothers, June 
22d, 1887. Brother Norbert was elected Aug. 15th, 1887, and he is 
now Superior-General. 

Brother Polycarp, being Superior-General, at the request of Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Portier of Mobile, sent five Brothers to America, to take charge 
of the Orphan Asylum, and in time, to teach schools. On Jan. 13th, 
1847, these five Brothers landed in Mobile. They were Brother Al- 
phonse, Director; Brother David, Brother Baptiste, Brother Placide r 
and Brother Athanasius. Bro. Athanasius was the youngest of the 



BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART. 



505 



band, and he is the only one still living. Death has claimed the 
others. 

These five Brothers soon looked around them for vocations, and 
found young men ready to respond to the call. A small novitiate was 
started in Mobile in 1848. But, as the community extended, the loca- 
tion did not prove any longer suitable. In 1868 the novitiate was 
transferred to White Sulphur, Ky. In 1870 White Sulphur was aban- 
doned and the novitiate transferred to St. Joseph's Institute in the 
suburbs of Indianapolis. St. Joseph's Institute continued to be the 
seat of the novitiate till 1878, when St. Joseph's became a normal school 
for the community, and all the novices were sent to Arthabaskaville, 
Canada, the place of the present novitiate. 

Since 1847 the Community of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart has 
spread gradually and steadily. From the Orphan Asylum in Mobile, 
a post they still have, they founded two schools in Mobile ; one at the 
Cathedral, and the other at St. Vincent's. In the Archdiocese of New 
Orleans, they teach two schools in the city, one at Thibodaux (Thibo- 
daux College), and one at Donaldsonville. In the diocese of Natchez 
they have a large college at Bay St. Louis, (St. Stanislaus College), 
besides a parochial school, that of the Cathedral, in Natchez, the Or- 
phan Asylum in Natchez, and a college in Vicksburg. 

In the diocese of Savannah, they teach St. Patrick's School, attached 
to St. Patrick's Church at Augusta, Ga. 

In the diocese of Vincennes, besides St. Joseph's Institute, they 
teach St. John's and St. Patrick's school. In the diocese of Manchester 
they teach St. Augustine's Academy, Manchester, and St. Aloysius' 
Academy, Nashua. 

In Canada, besides the novitiate, they have a flourishing college at 
Arthabaskaville, and a day-school. Schools at St. Hyacinthe, Sher- 
brooke, Coaticook, Richmond, St. Anne de la Perade, St. Thomas de 
Montmagny, and a college at St. Guillaurne d'Upton, are, also, con- 
ducted by them. 

The community in America -counts now 210 professed religious, 
and 50 novices. Over 5,000 children attend their schools or colleges. 

In France there are about 1,000 professed Brothers teaching over 
25,000 children, and a novitiate containing no novices. 1 

1 Memoir of Brother Alphonse. 



CONGREGATION OF THE BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN 

DOCTRINE. 

ABOUT the year 1821, the Abbe Tgnace Mertian laid the founda- 
tions of a congregation of Brothers for the direction of primary 
schools in the diocese of Strasburg. The undertaking met with lit- 
tle success, until 1843, when M. Louis Mertian, a brother of the for- 
mer, gave a portion of his fortune for the benefit of Alsatian orphans^ 
A novitiate of Brothers was opened with the concurrence of the 
Fathers of the Society of Jesus, especially of Father Schneider, who 
was afterwards transferred to Canada. Under the direction of the 
Abbe Eugene Mertian, another brother of the original founder, and 
with the encouragement of the Bishop, the institute increased and 
prospered. 

The end of this congregation is the education of the children of the 
people, and all works adapted to this object are admitted within its 
scope. For this reason it attends to primary, industrial, primary- 
boarding, normal, and agricultural schools, orphan asylums, insti- 
tutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, houses of correction, and 
music schools. The Brothers of this congregation also fill the of- 
fice oi sacristans. They take the vows of religion, some perpetual, 
and others temporar}^. There are four degrees in the congregation, 
consisting of the postulants, the novices, the associated Brothers, and 
the professed. The candidate for admission into the congregation 
remains for a shorter or longer period as postulant. The novitiate 
lasts two years. Those who take vows only for two years are called 
associated Brothers. The professed take perpetual vows, adding the 
fourth vow of devoting themselves to the service of poor children.. 
They form the core of the congregation, and the) 7 are admitted to its 
government. The Brothers may be employed either at study or work, 
according to the will of the Superiors. Two Brothers suffice to form 
a community in a parish, and they fill the positions of organists, as well 
as teachers, St. Vincent de Paul is the special patron of the institute, 
and its members profess a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, in 
whose honor they recite daily the Little Office of the Immaculate Con- 
ception. Every year they all return to the mother-house of the con- 
gregation for their annual retreat. Their habit consists of a long 
coat, or soutanelle of dark blue. 

606 



BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE IN THE 
DIOCESE OF NANCY. 

ANOTHER congregation of Christian Doctrine exists in France in 
the diocese of Nancy, with the object of promoting primary in- 
struction. The Brothers of this congregation may be sent alone to 
take charge of a school. They unite the offices of catechist, singer, 
sacristan, and organist with that of teacher. If several of them are 
together, they dwell in a separate house, but if there is one alone, he 
lives in the house of the parish priest, or that of another ecclesiastic, 
or some other reliable house designated by the parish priest. 
There are also coadjutor Brothers for domestic work. The Brothers 
take temporary vows, the perpetual vows being seldom permitted, 
and that only to subjects of tried virtue, and past the age of thirty- 
five. The society, though governed by a general Director, is subject 
to the diocesan authorities. 



BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION. 



ABOUT the year 1822, this congregation, founded a short time be- 
fore by the Abbe Jean Marie Robert de Lamennais, brother of 
the famous priest of that name, was authorized by the government of 
France. In 1 85 1 a laudatory decree was granted to it by the Sacred 
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. The Brothers take no other 
vow, save that ot consecrating themselves to the Christian instruction 
of youth. This they take first for one year, afterwards for three or 
five years, or for life. They are allowed to take charge alone of a school, 
in which case the Brother lives in the house of the parish priest. The 
congregation also obtained houses in the French colonies. 



BROTHERS OF ST. GABRIEL. 



HESE Brothers were founded in France before the year 1822, by 



J[ Father Deshayes, Superior of the Company of Mary. In 1835 
they took the name of Brothers of St. Gabriel. Their rule is the same 
as that of the first disciples of Blessed de Montfort, with the exception 
of what specially belongs to the duty of giving instruction. The ob- 
ject of the congregation is the Christian instruction of children, es- 
pecially those in the country. The Brothers wear a black cassock. 




BROTHERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY. 



HIS congregation owes its origin to Brother Gabriel Taborin, 



born November ist, 1799, in the diocese of Belley in France. 
The saintly young man, together with five others, began the institu- 
tion in 1824, in obedience to the desire ot Mgr. Antoine Jacques de 
Chauron, bishop of Saint Claude. His companions soon became tired 
ot the work, and Brother Gabriel was left alone. He soon after 
removed to the diocese of Belley, where he was enabled to establish a 
novitiate, though he met with many contradictions, in spite of which 
his institute prospered. In 1 841, Brother Gabriel went to Rome, 
where he obtained from Gregory XVI. the approbation of his con- 
gregation by a decree of August 18th, 1841, and by a Brief of the 28th 
of the same month and year. 

There are two kinds of Brothers in the Congregation of the Holy 
Family: teachers and lay-brothers. They are admitted to the per- 
petual vows after five years. The congregation is governed by a 
Brother-General. A few priests are admitted within it who exercise 
the functions of chaplains, and, also, of priors, provincials, and masters 
of novices, if the General sees fit. They, as well as the Brother-Gen- 
eral, bear the title of Father. 

The chaplains and the teaching Brothers wear the ordinary eccle- 
siastical habit with a blue rabata. The lay-brothers are clad with a 
long coat -or sontanelle. The Brothers of this congregation also ex- 
ercise the office of Sacristans. We had the pleasure of making the 
acquaintance of these good Brothers on our recent journey through 
France. They are the Sacristans of the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
where we said Mass during our sojourn in Paris and, also, in the chap- 
el of St. Martin at Tours. 




OBLATES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN OF PIGNEROLE. 



FATHER LANTERI. — HIS ZEAL FOR THE SPREAD OF GOOD BOOKS. — PIOUS 
UNION OF ST. PAUL. — HE VISITS VIENNA.— FOUNDS HIS CONGREGA- 
TION. — APPROBATION OF ROME. — HIS DEATH. — NATURE OF HIS IN- 
STITUTE. — EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. — SIMILARITY WITH THE 
REDEMPTORISTS. 

THIS congregation was founded by Father Bruno Lanteri of Pig- 
nerole in Piedmont, who was born in 1759. At an early age, he 
entered the Carthusian Order, but he was obliged to leave it on account 
of ill-health. He then embraced the priesthood, having been formed 
to it under the direction of Father Diesbach, of the Society of Jesus, 
Having become a Priest, he devoted himself zealously to the ministry 
of the confessional. Seeing the harm produced by the reading of bad 
books, he gave himself great pains to have the best works printed, and 
to propagate them together with Father Diesbach. He had made a 
special study of the exercises of St. Ignatius, and these he used with 
great fruit for the salvation of souls. 

Father Lanteri gathered around him in his house several ecclesias- 
tics, and to this little society he gave the name of Pious Union of St. 
Paid. These zealous men, seeking first their own sanctification, de- 
voted themselves to the ministry of preaching and of the confessional, 
both in the city and in the country. They also visited the hospitals, 
prisons and military barracks, in order to gain souls for Jesus Christ. 

Pius VI. having determined to go to Vienna, Father Lanteri and 
Father Diesbach decided to precede him to that capital, in order to 
excite fervor among the good, faith in those in whom it had grown 
weak, and veneration for the Pope among the people, lest the enemies 
of the Church should prevent by their writings the great fruit that 
was to be hoped for from this visit of the Holy Father to the capital 
of Austria. 

From Vienna, Father Lanteri went to Turin, where he separated from 
Father Diesbach, and began to labor for the French and Germans 
whom political events had brought thither. He re-established the Pious 
Union for the spiritual exercises, edited a new edition of excellent 
works, and opened in his own house a course of lectures which were 
attended by the flower of the youth of the city, and by ecclesiastics. 



512 



HISTORY OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



He spared no pains in refuting the enemies of the faith, and earnestly 
endeavored to point out to the prelates the dangers which lay in the 
conjuration then brewing- against the Church. He spread far and 
wide small pamphlets defending the Sovereign Pontiff. This rendered 
him an object of suspicion to the enemies of the Holy See, for while 
Pius VII. was imprisoned in France, Fr. Lanteri was obliged to leave 
Turin by order of the minister of foreign affairs. 

The next work of Father Lanteri was to propagate the writings of 
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, which he considered an antidote, not only, 
for the poison emanating from the pen of impious writers, but also for 
that which lurked beneath certain theological systems in vogue in 
France and Flanders. It was about this time that he conceived the 
idea of founding a congregation of priests, having as object the propa- 
gation of the maxims of St. Ignatius, and the refuting of Jansenism and 
other popular errors especially by the judicious spreading of useful 
works. 

Having chosen a number of priests as fellow-workers, among whom 
were prominent the Piedmontese, John Reinaud and Joseph Soggeyra, 
he started for Rome, carrying letters of recommendation of Charles 
Felix, king of Sardinia, and the most flattering certificates of the bishop 
of Pignerole. 

To Leo XIL, who then sat upon the chair of Peter, Father Lanteri 
was no stranger. The Holy Father was well acquainted with his 
principles and doctrine as well as with his piety and zeal. His recep- 
tion at Rome was, in consequence, all that might be desired, and the 
Holy Father, by apostolical letters of December ist, 1826, approved 
his institution. Having caused his rules to be examined by Cardinal 
Pacca, the Pope gave to the new congregation the title of Oblates of 
the Blessed Virgin Mary. The life-work of Father Lanteri was com- 
pleted. Four years after the approbation of his institute, he closed his 
eyes in death on August 5th, 1830. 

The congregation he had founded is a union of priests consecrated to 
God through the medium of the Blessed Virgin, with the object of 
tending to their own perfection and that of the faithful. The special 
means they make use of to attain this twofold end are the exercises of 
St. Ignatius. They work under the jurisdiction of the bishops for 
both priests and people, endeavoring to form laborers in the Lord's 
vineyard, and receiving into their houses ecclesiastics to instruct 
them in the various branches of knowledge required by their holy 
calling. They make a special study of the principal errors of the day 
in order to refute them. All the members of the congregation profess 
the most inviolable attachment and the most perfect obedience to the 



OBLATES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN OF PIGERNOLE. 513 



Holy See and its teachings, accepting the opinions of Rome, even in 
matters open to discussion. For this reason they have chosen St. 
Peter as their special patron. Finally, they endeavor to spread good 
books to counteract the evil influence of vicious literature. 

These oblate Fathers take the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and 
obedience, from which the Pope or their Superior-General, who bears 
the title of Rector-Major, can dispense. They dwell in community, 
wearing a uniform habit, and accept no dignities or offices outside the 
congregation. They are subject to the bishop in all things compat- 
ible with their rule, and each one is promoted to the priesthood on 
the title of patrimony prescribed in the respective dioceses. They also 
keep the property of their goods. The General-Superiors hold their 
office for life, but the Rectors of houses are changeable. The Fathers 
make a novitiate of one year, and the Brothers of two. The Fathers 
devote much attention to the study of theology, following the doctrine 
of St. Thomas. Several times a week they hold conferences on moral 
theology. Each Father composes a course of exercises according to 
the method of St. Ignatius. This is the only kind of preaching in vogue 
among them. 

They possess foundations in Pignerole, Turin, and Nice, and missions 
in Birmah, in the East Indies. 

It appears evident that Father Lanteri, in composing his rule, under- 
went a twofold influence, that of St. Ignatius, owing, probably, to his 
intimacy with Father Diesbach, and that of St. Alphonsus, due, no 
doubt, to the study of the saint's works. The practise of the exer- 
cises of St. Ignatius bears evidence of the former, while the similarity 
of his congregation in many points with that of the Redemptorists, 
shows the latter. 



INSTITUTE OF CHARITY, OR CONGREGATION OF 

ROSMINIANS. 

THIS congregation was founded in 1828, by the Italian philosopher, 
Antonio Rosmini Serbati. The design of the founder was that 
the members of the institute should embrace every work of charity, 
without arbitrary limitation to any particular branch, undertaking 
ail that should be required of them, of which they should be capable. 
The first house of the institute was built on the Monte Calvario near 
Domo d'Ossola. Other establishments were founded, and the congre- 
gation was introduced into England by Fr. Gentili in 1835. The in- 
stitute was approved in 1838 by Pope Gregory XVI. Three months 
afterwards the founder and his followers took the vows, and, in 1839, 
Rosmini was appointed Superior-General for life. The saintly Ros- 
mini died in 1855. His institute possesses actually nine houses in Eng- 
land and Wales. 



BROTHERS OF GOOD WORKS. 



THIS congregation was established at Ronse in the diocese of Ghent 
in Belgium, shortly after the Revolution of 1830, by the Reverend 
Modestus Glorieux. Its object is charity towards the poor, and it 
began its work by opening schools. In 1833, the Brothers took charge 
of a hospital of incurables, an orphan asylum, several schools, besides 
being engaged in other good works. Their habit consists of a simple 
black cassock. In this country the Brothers of Good Works take 
charge of the domestic management of the Seminary of Troy, N. Y., 
and of that of Brighton, Mass. The author had the pleasure of form- 
ing a personal acquaintance with them, some years since, being called 
upon to give them a retreat at Troy, and he was much edified by their 
religious spirit. 

In 1888, the mother-house having been transferred to Lourdes, 
Oostakker, in Belgium, Mgr. Braco, Bishop of Ghent, gave to them 
the title of " Brothers of Our Lady of Lourdes." By a decree of July 
18, 1892, the congregation and the rule were approved by His Holi- 
ness, Leo XIII. The congregation is governed by a Superior chosen 
by the Brothers, who bears the title of Father-General. 



CLERICS OF ST. VIATEUR. 



THE society of "Parochial Clerics of St. Viateur" was organized about 
the year 1830, by Rev. J. M. Querbes, parish priest of Vourles, 
in the diocese of Lyons. The patron of the congregation is St. Viator, 
a lector of the cathedral of Lyons, who lived in the fourth century. 
Its object is the instruction of youth in secular and religious knowl- 
edge. It possesses in France three provinces called obediences, with 
a membership of about 600. Its constitutions were approved by Greg- 
ory XVI. in 1838. M. Querbes died in 1859. 

Less than fifty years since, the members of this congregation opened 
a new obedience at Joliette, Canada, to which country they had been 
called by the zealous Archbishop of Montreal, Mgr. Bourget. Very 
Rev. J. Champaneur was its first Superior. Under his guidance, the 
community prospered and increased very rapidly until it reached a 
membership of several hundreds, having charge of two large classical 
colleges, about twenty commercial academies, and the Deaf and Dumb 
Institute at Mile End, Montreal. 

In 1865, Priests and Brothers of the community were sent from Joli- 
ette, Canada, to Bourbonnais, Illinois, in the diocese of Chicago, to 
counteract by their teaching the effects of the schismatical preaching 
of the notorious apostate priest, Chiniquy. They soon erected a large 
college, where pupils are passed through a classical and commercial 
course. 

The village of Bourbonnais Grove is situated near the banks of the 
Kankakee River. It was settled more than sixty years ago by Mr. 
Noel Lavasseur, who died in 1879, and the inhabitants are mostly re_ 
tired farmers. The founders of the college were Father P. Beaudoin, 
Brother Bernard, and Brother Martel. They first took charge of the 
district school, which became a parochial school, and later a commer- 
cial academy. In 1868 the school was bought from the school-board 
for $3,000, payable in teaching. In 1874, the college obtained a univer- 
sity charter from the Illinois legislature. One of the priests who con- 
tributed most to the success of the college was Rev. Thomas Roy, C. 
S. V., the first president, who died at Joliette, Canada, in 1879. Be- 
sides the preparatory, commercial, classical, and scientific courses, St. 
Viateur's College also possesses a philosophical and theological course.- 

516 



FR. ROY. 



CLERICS OF ST. VIATEUR. 



517 



The Congregation of St. Viateur consists of Priests and Brothers. 
Young men entering the community may become Priests if they de- 
sire, and if they are deemed fit. The members take the three vows of 
religion. 1 

1 From data furnished by E. L. Rivard, C. S. V. 



CONGREGATION OF THE XAVERIAN BROTHERS. 1 



THEODORE RYKEN. — BISHOP ROSATI.— FOUNDATION AT BRUGES. — ENG- 
LAND. — FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICA. 

Hp HE religious congregation known by the name of the Xaverian 



Brothers, was founded in 1839 a ^ Bruges, Belgium. The foun- 
der, Theodore James Ryken, was born August 30, 1 797, at Elshout, in the 
Catholic province of North Brabant, Holland. His parents having 
died while he was still young, his moral and educational training was 
committed to his saintly uncle, and into no better hands could it have 
fallen. Piety seems to have been hereditary in the family, as is evi- 
denced by the number of his relatives who were distinguished for 
their virtue, charity, and zeal in the cause of religion. During the 
early part of his life he visited America for the purpose of devoting 
himself to the conversion of the Indians, but God had another work 
in store for him. He was associated with the celebrated convert and 
writer, Le Sage Ten Broeck, in conducting an asylum for orphans and 
destitute boys. The sight of these poor children, together with the 
knowledge of the evil effects produced by godless education, made 
such an impression on the mind of Mr. Ryken, that he determined to 
found a congregation of men who would devote their lives to the 
Christian education of youth. Thinking that Europe had her just 
proportion of religious teaching orders, his eyes were turned towards 
the New World. Accordingly, in 1838, he visited St. Louis, and laid 
his plans before Bishop Rosati, then Bishop of that diocese. The im- 
pression made on that venerable prelate will be seen from the follow- 
ing letter which he gave to Mr. Ryken. 



" Since the instruction of boys in literature and religion is much wanted 
in our diocese, a religious society or community of Brothers, who 
would undertake this work and apply themselves to it with all their 

1 We have incorporated into our work this entire sketch, sent us by the Xaverian 
Brothers. 




JAMES ROSATI, Congregationis Missionis, 

Dei et Apostolicce Sedis gratia , 
Ep is co pus S. Ludovici ; 



518 



CON GREG A T10N OF THE XA VER1AN BROTHERS. 519 



strength, would be very usefulamongus, both for theglory of Godandthe 
salvation of souls ; and, therefore, most acceptable to us and all good 
souls. Mr. Ryken has made known to us, as well by letters from Bel- 
gium as also in conversation, when a few days ago he visited us for 
that purpose, that he has for some time been seriously thinking of en- 
gaging in so laudable an undertaking; we, therefore, think his inten- 
tion of collecting some pious youths in Belgium under certain rules,, 
of proving them well, and rightly instructing them in religious disci- 
pline, afterwards to bind them by vows to this good work, and to come 
into America with them, to apply themselves to the instruction of 
youth in religion and literature, is worthy not only of the praises of the 
faithful who are desirous of the propagation and increase of religion, 
but also of their favor and co-operation. This desirable end he will 
no doubt accomplish, if the most excellent and Reverend Bishop of 
Bruges will deign, for the future, to favor his design with that pas- 
toral care with which he has already so affectionately cherished it. 
As to us, if Providence deign to send us any Brothers, we will affec- 
tionately embrace them, and most willingly commit to their care and 
instruction the youth of our Asylum who at the present time number fifty 
boys. The Brothers will also deserve much of religion if some among 
them well instructed in the method of teaching the deaf and dumb 
should devote their time to their education. 

Given at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, in North America, this 
17th day of Februarv, 1838. 

(Signed) t JOSEPH, Bishop of St. Louis." 

On the 1st of February, 1839, Bishop Rosati again wrote to Mr. 
Ryken as follows: 

Dear Mr. Ryken : 

I received both your letters, and I learn with pleasure of the per- 
severance in your resolution of coming to America, and the choice 
you have made of establishing yourself in the diocese of St. Louis. 
Under the protection and guidance of your venerable prelate, the Rt 
Rev. Bishop of Bruges, this good work cannot fail to be successful, 
and be the means of doing much good in this country. Our orphans 
increase day by day, and they will pray for this beautiful work from 
which they shall reap such great advantages. The establishment of 
the Sisters, for the instruction of deaf and dumb girls, is in a flourish- 
ing condition ; they begin to be known, and have received some more 
scholars. The Legislature has promised to assist us ; all the members 
of the House of Representatives and the Senate of Missouri were de- 
lighted with our small commencement, and will do something to assist 



520 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



us. They have asked Congress, in the name of the State, for land, and 
I have promised them that before the next General Assembly, which 
will take place after two years, I would have commenced an establish- 
ment for boys, reckoning on you. 

Thus you see that Providence prepares the way. 

The following- is an exact translation of the Letter of Approval from 
the Bishop of Bruges : 

FRANCOIS RENE BOUSSEN, 

By the mercy of God, and the favor of the Apostolic See, Bishop of 

Bruges, Belgium. 

Mr. Theodore Ryken has laid before us a plan of an institution, the 
object of which is the education of children. This plan has received 
our serious consideration for a long time, and we submitted the same 
for examination, to a number of venerable ecclesiastics ; the result of 
this examination, together with the written approbations of seven 
Right Rev. Bishops of the United States of America, and, above all, 
the warm interest expressed by one of those Right Rev. Prelates, who 
have personally conversed with us on the subject, has given us the 
entire conviction of this important work, which will not only be of 
great benefit to the Missions of America, but also to our dear flock 
who have long since claimed the need of such institutions. 

Therefore, having in view the spiritual progress of those intrusted 
to our care, and following the example of several Right Rev. mem- 
bers of the Episcopate who are deeply interested in the foreign mis- 
sions, we have approved of this institution, and authorized Mr. The- 
odore Ryken to inaugurate, under our direction, in our episcopal city, 
a congregation of Brothers destined to co-operate, according to their 
means, to the accomplishment of this project. 

In order to favor, as much as is in our power, this pious institution, 
we recommend it for the above named motives to the charitable souls, 
with a firm confidence that their gifts will not only bear the desired 
fruits, but also that thereby they will draw upon themselves the ten- 
der dew of heavenly blessings. 

Given at Bruges, the ist of October, 1840. 

t FRANCOIS, Bishop of Bruges, Belgium. 

Mr. Ryken visited America twice before he began the foundation 
of his congregation, and on each occasion consulted the Bishops then 
in this country. They approved his plans and encouraged him to 
put them into execution. Returning to Europe he immediately com- 
menced the arduous work, by preparing the constitutions and rules 
for his intended congregation. In this he was ably assisted by the 



CONGREGATION OF THE XA VERIAN BROTHERS. 



521 



venerable and learned Jesuit, Father Van Kerkhoven. This accom- 
plished, his next move was to the seat of all spiritual power and au- 
thority — Rome. He was kindly received by the Holy Father, Pope 
Gregory XVI., who gave him and his efforts his benediction, placing 
the young congregation under the protection of Mgr. Boussen, then 
Bishop of Bruges. Fostered by the paternal care of this saintly Bish- 
op and his illustrious successors, the rising congregation, after pass- 
ing through many and severe trials, at last emerged from the crucible, 
punned, and solidly established on a foundation which speaks well for 
its future prospects. 

With the American Missions in view, Bruges, Belgium,was selected 
as the nursery of the new society, and there, on June 5th, 1839, it was 
formally established under the name of the "Xaverian Brothers," 
after the great apostle of the Indies, who was selected as its patron. 

In a short time, many young men flocked to its standard, and, amidst 
trials and hardships, prepared themselves for their laborious work by 
prayer and study. On the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Dec. 3, 1843, 
Mr. Ryken and his associates were invested with the religious habit, 
and received their religious names; the Founder taking that of Broth- 
er Francis Xavier, after the patron of the congregation. The habit 
adopted by the Brothers resembles the one worn by their patron dur- 
ing his labors in India and Japan, and is very much like a clerical cas- 
sock, with belt and white collar. The work of preparation was con- 
tinued, and on Oct. 22d, 1846, Bro. Francis and twelve companions 
solemnly consecrated themselves to God by the three vows of Relig- 
ion. The following year these promises were renewed for life. Ac- 
tive work was immediately begun by opening a small school in Bruges, 
which soon sfrew to be St. Xavier's Institute, now St. Xavier's Col- 
lege, an institution for day scholars and boarders, which at the present 
time is the most flourishing seat of learning in that city. Since then 
other schools have been established by the Brothers in Bruges and 
different parts of Belgium. 

In 1848, Bro. Francis set out for England, where he planted the 
first branch of the congregation. 

That colony has been steadily growing, and now the Brothers con- 
duct several flourishing educational establishments in London, Man- 
chester, Mayfield, Preston, etc. The Catholic Collegiate Institute, in 
Manchester, holds a high rank among institutions of its kind, as the 
annual public examinations show. The pupils carry off high honors 
and awards from the College of Preceptors. St. Francis Xavier's Col- 
lege in Sussex is another prominent institution under the direction of 
the Brothers. 



522 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



But as the congregation was established chiefly for the American 
Missions, the Founder looked forward anxiously for an opportunity 
to introduce the Brothers into this country. This was happily 
brought about by the late Archbishop Spalding, then Bishop of Louis- 
ville, Ky. Through his instrumentality, Brother Francis, accompanied 
by six Brothers, arrived in Louisville, Ky., August u, 1854, and took 
charge of St. Patrick's School, which they hold to the present day. 
Other schools soon followed, among them St. Xavier's Institute, now 
St. Xavier's College, on Broadway, one of the finest colleges in the 
State. 

In i860, the Founder, Bro. Francis, resigned the Generalship of the 
order, which he held for twenty-one years. Brother Vincent, one of 
the pioneers in this country, and the present Superior-General, was 
elected in his place. During his administration the society has made 
wonderful progress, both in this country and Europe. 

In the farewell address of Dr. Spalding on leaving the diocese of 
Louisville to become Archbishop of Baltimore, while enumerating the 
many charitable and benevolent institutions erected during his admin- 
istration, he said : " There is yet one more which cost me twelve 
years of incessant labor, and which I consider the grandest work of my 
life, and that is, the introduction of the Xaverian Brothers into 
this city to educate boys in sound religious principles." His love for 
the Brothers and their good work soon induced him to procure a 
colony to assist him in his new field. They took charge of St. Mary's 
Industrial School, near Baltimore, Md., on August 17, 1866. This in- 
stitution with its five hundred inmates, now stands among the first of 
its kind in this country — a shining monument to its noble founder, 
Archbishop Martin John Spalding. The 26th of November, 187 1, 
witnessed the death of the venerable Founder, who after so many 
years of incessant labors for the establishment of his congregation, at 
a ripe old age, went to God to receive the reward he so justly merited. 

On August 1, 1872, the Brothers accepted the invitation of the late 
pastor (Rev. John T. Gaitley) of St. Patrick's church, Baltimore, Md., 
to take charge of his school. 

At the General Chapter of the congregation held in Bruges, Belgium, 
in 1875, it was decided to divide the order into three provinces, viz., 
Belgium, England, and the United States. Bother Alexius, Superior of 
St. Mary's Industrial School, was appointed Provincial for the latter, 
and re-appointed on two subsequent occasions. 

The long cherished desire of having a novitiate wherein to educate 
and train young men as teachers, was finally realized in the purchase 
of a suitable tract of improved land on the Frederick Road, almost 



CONGREGATION OF THE XA VERIAN BROTHERS. 523 



within the limits of Baltimore City. On November 30th, 1876, the 
novitiate was formally opened with great ceremony. Mt. St. Joseph's 
College, a flourishing institution which stands on the same grounds 
as the novitiate, was incorporated October 6, of the same year. 
These institutions received the approbation ol the late Archbishop 
Bailey and his illustrious successor, Cardinal Gibbons. 

The opening of the novitiate was the beginning of a new era for the 
congregation. Supported and encouraged bytheRt. Rev. Bishops and 
Rev. Clergy, its progress was constant and steady. In 1878, two new 
missions in Baltimore were added to its list; July 16, St. James' Home 
for homeless boys, under the special protection of His Eminence, 
Cardinal Gibbons; and September 1, St. Joseph's Parochial School. 
The next mission of the Brothers was in Richmond, Va., where they 
accepted St. Peter's Male Academy, on August 30, 1881. 

Shortly after establishing themselves in the South, a northern branch 
was seen reaching out in the direction of the New England States. 
Lowell, Mass., was the stopping place of this colony, where on August 
17, 1882, they were installed as the teachers of St. Patrick's School. 
This is now one of the largest parochial schools under the direction 
of the Brothers in this province. On September 2, 1889, St. Mary's 
School, Lawrence, Mass., was placed under the Xaverian Brothers' 
system ; and January 19, 1891, the School of Our Lady of the Assump- 
tion Church, East Boston, both of which are giving the greatest 
satisfaction to the clergy and laity. 

St. Mary's Academy, Norfolk, Va., was also accepted in 1891, Au- 
gust 28. But, though two schools were opened in that year, the chief 
event for the Brotherhood, was the purchase of a valuable estate, con- 
sisting of 95 acres of land with suitable buildings at Beaver Brook 
Station, Danvers, Mass., and the informal opening and blessing on 
September 8, of an institution under the title of St. John's Normal Col- 
lege. To cope successfully with the antagonists of religious educa- 
tion, the Brothers must be thorough and efficient teachers. This col- 
lege has been established as a kind of preparatory novitiate and train- 
ing-school for boys and young men, who pass through a course of 
studies here before entering the novitiate. This work has the hearty 
approval and blessing of his Grace, Archbishop Williams, and Bishop 
Brady of Boston, Mass., and the warm support of the Rev. Clergy, 
and all friends of religious education. After making the requisite im- 
provements, the college was formally opened, with great solemnity, 
on August 17, 1892. 

Another mission in Virginia was begun in 1892, in St. Paul's School, 
Portsmouth. 



524 HIS TOR Y OF RELIGIO US ORDERS, 

As the object of the Brothers is the religious education of youth in 
parochial schools, academies, colleges; the superintendence of homes 
for boys, male orphanages, industrial schools, etc., it is a source of re- 
gret not to be able to respond to more of the many calls for help from 
the different parts of the country. The congregation numbers, in 
this Province, between one hundred and two hundred members. As 
its history shows, the finger of God has been manifest in all its work 
and marvellous growth. Its schools stand upon their merits, and speak 
well for the industry of the Brothers. The high standard of its pu- 
pils at graduation; the numerous religious, literary, and military so- 
cieties in connection with the schools; the circulating libraries of inter- 
esting, useful, and instructive books which they foster, all of which 
serve to attract the young and keep them in the right path, go to make 
the Brothers loved and respected by both clergy and people. 



FATHERS OF THE HOLY GHOST 



CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND THE 
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. 

M. DESPLACES. — EDUCATION OF POOR CLERICS.— WORK IN THE COLO- 
NIES. — DIFFICULTIES. — FATHER LIBERMANN. — CONGREGATION OF 
THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. — UNION OF TWO CONGREGA- 
TIONS. — NATURE OF THE SOCIETY. 

THE Congregation of the Holy Ghost was founded on Whitsunday of 
the year 1703, by Claude Francis Poullard-Desplaces, a saintly 
cleric, together with several other zealous ecclesiastics. The object 
of the society was to give gratuitous instruction to poor clerics who 
intended to exercise the most difficult and least sought for works of the 
ministry, such as the assisting in country parishes, attending hospitals, 
and the missions. For a long time this pious society possessed hardly 
any other means of subsistence than the alms of charitable persons. 
While still in its cradle it was left an orphan by the death of its founder. 
M. Desplaces, who had been hardly two years a priest, died on October 
2, 1709, after a brief but saintly career, being only thirty years of age. 
He had been a great friend of Blessed Grignon de Montfort, founder 
of the Company of Mary, and the Congregation of the Daughters of 
Wisdom. 

During the course of the eighteenth century, the congregation had 
much to suffer on the part of the Jansenists, but it prospered in spite 
of their machinations, and its constitutions were approved, in 1734, by 
Mgr. de Vintimille, Archbishop of Paris. It extended the sphere of its 
activity beyond the limits of France, some of its members going to 
China, India, and Tonking, and others to Canada. About the year 1776, 
the Fathers of the Holy Ghost were sent to Cayenne, or French Guiana, 
where they kept twenty Fathers and a Prefect-Apostolic. A little 
later, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, on the western coast of 
North America, were confided to them. Missionary work in the col- 
onies thus grew to be the principal work of the congregation. 

The French Revolution dispersed the congregation, and several 
of its members died the death of martyrs, while not one apostatized. 
After the concordat in 1801, M. Bertout and several of his former con- 
freres endeavored to raise up their institute once more, but a decree 

525 



526 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



of 1809, suppressing religious congregations, annihilated their work, 
until in 18 16, a royal ordinance legalized it, and placed all the French 
colonies under their care. In 1824, the Holy See expressed the desire 
to see the rules and constitutions. These it approved " as wise, 
prudent, and well fitted to attain the end of the institute." 

For a long time the existence of this congregation was a struggle 
to meet its obligations for want of sufficient members, and it beheld 
itself forced to accept the service of priests outside of the institute. 
These were not always animated with the spirit of sacerdotal zeal, 
and the consequence was that the congregation itself lost in public 
esteem, as it frequently happened that no distinction was made between 
the members of the institute and its auxiliary priests. Thus the con- 
gregation of the Holy Ghost, limited in numbers, lingered along until 
1848, when an event occurred which raised it up from the brinks of 
the grave. To understand this event, it is necessary for us to go back 
a few years. 

About the time when the Congregation of the Holy Ghost was try- 
ing to recover from the blows inflicted upon it by the French Revo- 
lution, there was born, on March 4th, 1803, at Saverne in Alsace, a 
Jewish child, named Jacob Libermann, son of a renowned Rabbi. 
Destined for the service of the synagogue, he nevertheless fell into 
a condition of infidelity, until a series of Providential circumstances 
brought him to Paris, where he became a pupil of the College Stanislas. 
His mind harassed by religious doubts, found no rest until he had 
recourse to God in prayer. Grace obtained the victory, and Liber- 
mann received baptism, taking the name of Marie-Paul Frangois. 
Mgr. de Quelen, Archbishop of Paris, having granted him a free scholar- 
ship, he entered the seminary of St. Sulpice. 

Here God began to try him in a most extraordinary manner. 
Nervous spasms which soon developed into epilepsy, great bodily suf- 
fering and immense sadness of spirit, were the cross which Providence 
imposed upon him, and which became the means of his sanctification. 
In spite of his intense sufferings, his fervor increased, and, in the semi- 
nary, he led the life of a saint. He thus spent five years. About 1833, 
his father died, leaving- him disinherited, and the object of his maledic- 
tion. He had received minor orders, but his illness prevented him 
from being promoted to the priesthood. It was, indeed, a most 
terrible trial. The Sulpicians, taking compassion on him, removed 
liim to their college of philosophy at Issy, where he lived at the ex- 
pense of the society. Meanwhile the Holy Spirit performed wonders 
in his soul, leading him up to the heights of the spiritual life. The 
grace that was within him reflected its light without, and, though 



CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY GHOST. 



527 



.not a priest, Libermann became a most experienced director of souls. 

About this time, two pupils of the seminary of St. Sulpice, Le 
Vavasseur and Tisserand, descended from Creole parents, of the is- 
lands of Bourbon and Santo Domingo, conceived the idea of laboring 
at the salvation of the blacks of the islands of their origin. Several 
other students entered into the same views, and Libermann became 
the soul of all. 

After ten years spent at St. Sulpice, Libermann was called to take up- 
on himself the direction of the novitiate of the Eudists at Rennes. Such 
was the reputation of his sanctity. However, he felt himself specially 
-called to work at the salvation of the negroes, and, after two years, he 
left Rennes in 1839. He next went to Rome, where he labored at the 
rules of the institute he proposed to found, leading a most poor and 
mortified life. It was only after a year had been spent in the Eternal 
City, that his project received any encouragement from the Propagan- 
da. The Congregation of the Holy Ghost was then in possession of the 
work in the colonies, and for this reason, Libermann and his disciples 
offered themselves to M. Fourdinier, the Superior of the congregation, 
to work conjointly with his priests, on condition that they should 
labor only for the negroes, and live together under a common rule. The 
offer was notaccepted. Libermann, havingbeen miraculously delivered 
of his malady, on a pilgrimage to Loretto, returned to France, where 
he was ordained subdeacon and deacon. In 1841, he opened the first 
novitiate of his new congregation, together with M. Le Vavasseur and 
Collin at Neuville near Amiens. They placed the institute under the 
title of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary. A short time after, 
Libermann was ordained priest at Amiens. The little community, 
though nearly deprived of human aid, began to increase and prosper. 
In the second year of its existence, the congregation was enabled to 
begin its special work, having obtained missions on the islands of 
Mauritius and Bourbon. In 1843, it sent seven missionaries to Guinea, 
of whom five fell victims to the murderous climate, a sixth one lost cour- 
age, and the seventh remained alone for more than a year. The following 
year, five missionaries left for Hayti, but the opposition of the govern- 
ment soon obliged them to leave that country. In 1845, the congre- 
gation resumed its labors in Guinea, but lost one of its efficient mem- 
bers, M. Tisserand, who had been appointed Prefect-Apostolic, and who 
perished in a shipwreck. 

After many trials, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of 
Mary became, about 1848, united with' that of the Holy Ghost. It 
was in accordance with the wishes of the Superior of the latter con- 
gregation, M. Monet, who, having been appointed Vicar-Apostolic of 



528 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Madagascar, resigned the generalship in favor of Father Libermann, 
who was unanimously elected. The Holy See confirmed this union 
by a decree of September 26th, 1848. Thus did these two congrega- 
tions become one, under the title of Congregation of the Holy Ghost, 
and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

Father Libermann survived this union only four years, and, after a 
saintly life, died on February 2d, 1852. The cause of his canonization 
has been introduced. He was succeeded in office by Father Schwin- 
denhammer. 

The congregation had, by this time, obtained missions in Martinique, 
Guadeloupe, and the Isle of Reunion. Some time after, the Fathers 
established a seminary in Rome for French ecclesiastics. The congre- 
gation directs several educational institutions in France, The Sanc- 
tuary of Notre Dame des Victoires in Paris is under the care of these 
Fathers. They have many foreign missions in Africa, the West Indies, 
and French Guiana. They have also been introduced into this country, 
and they possess a flourishing community in Pittsburg, with houses in 
other dioceses. 

The end of this institute, as it exists since the union into one of the 
two separate congregations, is to -work for the glory of God and the 
salvation of souls, especially the poor and infidels, and those in danger 
of being lost for want of spiritual aid. Its principal work, however 
still remains, the evangelizing of the negro race. 

After a novitiate of two years, the members take the three ordinary 
simple vows for the space of three years, after which they are at lib- 
erty either to renew them every five years, or to take them for life. 
The Superior-General may not dispense from the perpetual vows with- 
out the authorization of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda, and, 
from that of chastity, without the dispensation of the Pope. Although 
the taking of perpetual vows is not obligatory within the congregation, 
nevertheless the subjects are expected to bind themselves to persevere 
in the congregation. The vow of poverty leaves the members free to- 
dispose of their property, but it enjoins a life of community. No bod- 
ily austerities are prescribed, but, on the other hand, great detachment 
and renunciation of self-will are required. One of the great rules of 
the congregation is that of the common life, its members not being 
permitted to dwell alone. The congregation also admits lay-brothers 
under the name of brother co-adjutors. 

The Superior-General is elected for life, and the congregation is di- 
vided into provinces, at the head of which there are Provincials. The 
General is aided by two assistants and a council of six. Every ten years 
a general chapter is held. Only the professed of the perpetual vows 



CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY GHOST 



529 



,-are allowed to hold important offices in the congregation, and to have 
a deliberative voice in the chapter. The congregation is immediately 
subject to the Holy See through the Propaganda. 

The habit of the members of this organization consists of a wide cas- 
sock, without buttons on the outside, and with a black cord for 
cincture. They wear a large scapular of the Immaculate Conception 
under the habit. 




THE PRIESTS OF ST. MEEN. 



IN the year 1837, the Petit-Seminaire of the diocese of Rennes was 
under the direction of an association of priests, known as the Mis- 
sionaries of Rennes. Their number was small until, about that period, 
several of their pupils expressed the desire to be admitted among 
them, and they purchased the hospice of St. Meen, not far from Rennes, 
which had once been a country house of the Jesuits. They afterwards 
obtained the direction of several colleges and seminaries. 

The members of this society take the three ordinary vows of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience. The object of this society is to give missions, 
instruct youth, direct seminaries, and to study. 



HIS institution was founded about the year 185 1, with the object 



of forming religious teachers destined especially for country 



BROTHERS OF ST. MARY. 




places. 



MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 

r pHIS congregation was founded at Issoudun, France, on December 
X 8th, 1854, the day of the promulgation of the dogma of the Im- 
maculate Conception, at the close of a novena in which the grace of 
this foundation was asked of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as the first 
fruit of the glory wherewith the Pontifical Decree was about to crown 
the Blessed Virgin. The infant society was blessed by Pope Pius IX. 
on September 9th, i860, and it received at his hands the Decree ad 
laudandum on March 6th, 1869. It was formally approved of by the 
Holy See on June 12th, 1874, the very day of the feast of the Sacred 
Heart. 

The special end which the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have 
in view, is to make known and to propagate the Devotion to the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, in conformity with the motto given them by 
Pius IX. himself: " May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere 
loved." 

The society possesses two kinds of members: the first, who are re- 
ligious, dwell in community; the others live in the world. The relig- 
ious are clerics and lay-brothers. After their novitiate, they take 
the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The members liv- 
ing in the world are secular priests and lay-persons of both sexes. 
The object of all is to promote the devotion to the Sacred Heart of 
Jesus. 

To obtain this end the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart devote 
themselves to missions in town and country places, to retreats for the 
faithful in general, for religious and for ecclesiastics, to the direction 
of souls and to the education of youth in colleges and seminaries. 



CONGREGATIONS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 



HE first of these congregations bears the title of Congregation of 



X the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. It was founded towards 
the middle of the eighteenth century by a pious priest, the Abbe Louis 
Agut, for the care of the abandoned sick. M. Agut died in 1778, but 
his work survived, and passed unscathed through the awful days of 
the Reign of Terror. The members of this congregation devote 
themselves to the care of the sick, the poor, and children. They are 
divided into choir and lay-sisters. They take annual vows of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience, though at the age of thirty, they may be ad- 
mitted to the perpetual vows, if they have been for ten years profess- 
ed members of the congregation. 

Another institution of religious women of the Blessed Sacrament 
was founded in France, in 171 5, by a zealous priest in Vivarais, M. 
Vigne. Dispersed by the French Revolution, they again assembled, 
and have continued to work at the end of their institute, education 
and works of charity. 

Finally, the third institution bearing the name of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment is one founded at Paris in 1856, with the approbation of the arch- 
bishop, Mgr. Sibour. Its object is the promotion of the worship of 
the Blessed Sacrament by the exercise of perpetual adoration, the giv- 
ing of retreats, especially for first communion, seeking of adults who 
have not yet made their first communion, instructing and preparing 
them for the reception of the sacraments, preaching at the devotion 
of the Forty Hours, and work for the decoration of churches. 

The members of this congregation are divided into three classes : 
contemplative religious, contemplative and active religious, and asso- 
ciates. The first devote themselves entirely to the work of adoration; 
the second are engaged in the Eucharistic ministry, while the asso- 
ciates form, as it were, a third order. 

The members of the congregation, after their novitiate, bind them- 
selves first by temporal vows of three years, and, afterwards, take 
vows that are perpetual. 

This society, young though it is, deserves to be better known, and 
we doubt not but that it would be an acquisition for our country were 
Divine Providence to bring it hither. 

532 




SISTERS OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT. 



HIS congregation was founded in 171 5, by Rev. Father Vigne, at 



X Boucien-le-Roi en Vivarais, which then belonged to the diocese 
of Valence. During the French Revolution the Sisters were dispersed, 
but, in 1804, they assembled again, and took up their abode at Romans 
in Dauphine. 

The object of this institute is to propagate the devotion towards 
the Blessed Sacrament, to educate young girls in piety and the spirit 
of religion, and to nurse the sick in hospitals. They take the three 
simple vows, and the congregation is governed by a General Superior. 
The congregation had several times been temporarily approved by the 
Sovereign Pontiff, but it obtained a definitive approbation by a decree of 
His Holiness, Leo XIII., dated June 27, 1885. It possesses numerous es- 
tablishments in France, besides several in Italy and England. 

The founder of the congregation, the Pere Vigne, was born about 
the year 1671. He was a convert from Calvinism. The cause of his 
beatification has been introduced. 1 

1 Memoir furnished by the Sisters. 




PART VIII. 



FEMALE CONGREGATIONS WITH SIMPLE VOWS. 

OBLATES OF ST. FRANCES. 

ST. FRANCES OF ROME.— HER MARRIAGE —WIDOWHOOD.— SHE ENTERS 
THE COMMUNITY.— CHARACTER OF THE SISTERHOOD. 

T T f E treat here of the Oblates of St. Frances, although they are not, 
VV strictly speaking, religious. Their foundress, St Frances of 
Rome, was born in that city in 1384, of Paul de Busco and Jacquelina 
Rofredeschi. From her earliest infancy she gave evidence of the 
high sanctity to which Divine Providence had destined her. She 
ardently desired to consecrate her virginity to God, and, at the age 
of twelve, she thought of going into a monastery 0 However, out of 
obedience to her parents, she consented to many Louis de Pontianis, 
a gentleman of birth and wealth. This act cost her so much that she 
fell ill, and she was cured only by a miracle* In her married life she 
continued to devote herself to the exercises of p: ; .ety and mortification, 
and with the permission of her husband, she embraced the rule of the 
Third Order of St. Francis, at least according to the opinion of some 
authors, though by others this fact is contested. Many were the trials 
to which she was subjected, but she bore them all with the patience 
of a saint. 

There existed a confraternity attached to the Order of Monte 
Oliveto of which the members bore the name of Oblates, changing 
neither their condition in life nor their habit, but resolving to practise 
the prescribed exercises of piety. St. Frances became a member of 
this confraternity in 1425. Desiring the salvation of souls, she con- 
ceived the plan of forming a congregation of young women and wid- 
ows who would live in community under the direction of the Fathers 
of Monte Oliveto. This she executed in 1433, assembling several 
women in a house called the Torre de Specchi. She gave to them the 
rule of St. Benedict with special constitutions, and submitted them to 
the jurisdiction of the Fathers of Monte Oliveto. In the same year 
Pope Eugene IV. authorized the congregation through his represen- 
tative, Caspar, bishop of Cozenza. St. Frances, having lost her hus- 
band in 1436, entered this community. She accepted the government 

534 



FEMALE CONGREGATIONS WITH SIMPLE VOWS. 535 



of the establishment only with the greatest reluctance, and at the earn- 
est solicitation of its members. She did not, however, live long in 
this office, for she died on March 9th, 1440. 

Although the Fathers of Monte Oliveto had made a contract with 
the Oblates of St. Frances, nevertheless their General, Dora John Bap- 
tist Podio Bonzi, considering the guidance of these pious women too 
great a burden, by an act of July 26, 1440, renounced all jurisdiction 
over them, allowing them, at the same time, to continue in the enjoy- 
ment of all the privileges of his order. 

This congregation has remained stationary. It consists of choir and 
lay-sisters. Each oblate was allowed to have a servant, who wore 
the habit of a lay-sister, and also a man-servant outside of the commun- 
ity. Only ladies of rank were to be received into the community. 
They were to bear the title of Most illustrious, while princesses were to 
be styled Most excellent. At the reception of the habit, they promise 
obedience to the Superior. They make a year's novitiate. They are 
allowed to leave the congregation and marry, if they desire it. The 
Superior is perpetual, and bears the title of President. They eat meat 
three times a week at dinner. They follow the mitigated rule of St. 
Benedict. These Oblates use their wealth in performing many acts of 
charity. Their habit consists in a black robe and long, white veil. 
Their foundress, St. Frances, was canonized in 1608, by Pope Paul V. 



COLORED OBLATES OF ST. FRANCES IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 

THERE exists in this country a congregation of which the mem- 
bers bear the name of Oblates of St. Frances, though greatly dif- 
fering from those of Rome, as well in their habit as in their condi- 
tion and occupations. It was founded at Baltimore by M. Joubert, a 
priest of the congregation of St. Sulpice. Seeing that so many col- 
ored girls were deprived of religious instruction, he assembled several 
pious women of color in the city of Baltimore for the purpose of im- 
parting to them the necessary instruction. After long trials, they 
were permitted to take the simple vows of religion. On June 25th, 
1825, the foundation was approved by Archbishop Whitfield. On 
October 2d, 1831, they were approved by the Holy See, and they 
were made participants in all the privileges and indulgences accorded 
to the Oblates of St. Frances in Rome. In 1834, M. Odin, a Lazarist, 
who afterwards became Bishop of Galveston, wrote to the Annals of 
the Propagation of the Faith : " The Almighty has blessed the efforts 
of the worthy M. Joubert. There are already twelve of these Sisters. 
Their school is very numerous; piety and fervor reign among them, and 
they render great services to religion." 

Their founder, James Hector Joubert, was born in France, at St. 
Jean d' Angely, September 6th, 1777. In 1801, he went to San Do- 
mingo in the West Indies, and, three years later, in 1804, to Baltimore. 
He soon after entered St. Mary's Seminary. He was the thirteenth 
priest ordained in that institution. 

One of the priests to whom the Oblates of St. Frances in Baltimore 
profess the deepest gratitude for the constant interest he has always 
shown in their congregation, was the venerable Redemptorist, the late 
Father Thaddeus Anwander. 

These good Sisters have persevered in their vocation in spite of in- 
numerable difficulties. They conduct in Baltimore a boarding-school 
and an orphan asylum for colored girls. Their pupils have come from 
the various States of the union, as welj as from the West Indies and 
South America. 

They possess several other establishments in the United States. 
Their habit is black, and they wear a white bonnet in the house, and a 
black one when they go out. 

536 



SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY IN 
THE UNITED STATES. 

FATHER GILET.— MOTHER TERESA.— MONROE.— FATHER POILVACHE. — 
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.— LATER HISTORY. 

ABOUT the year 1843, Father Louis Gilet, a Belgian Redemptorist, 
who, a short time before, had come to this country, gave a mis- 
sion to the French Catholics of Baltimore in the chapel of the Colored 
Oblates of St. Frances in that city. Here he made the acquaintance of 
Bishop Lefevre, then co-adjutor of Detroit, Mich., who had come to 
Baltimore to obtain aid for his diocese. The Bishop invited the Re- 
demptorists to give a course of missions in the diocese of Detroit, and 
then to settle in Michigan wherever they chose. The result was a 
foundation in the city of Monroe in that state. Father Gilet and the 
saintly Father Francis Poilvache 1 began the foundation. 

In Baltimore Father Gilet had made the acquaintance of two Oblate 
Sisters of very fair complexion. Conceiving the idea of forming a con- 
gregation for the instruction of the children in Monroe, he agreed with 
them that the}' should 'leave the Oblate Sisters and come to Michigan 
to begin a separate congregation. They were Sister Teresa and Sis- 
ter Ann. The former is still alive in West Chester, Penn., while we write 
these lines, and the latter died some years ago in the same place. The 
author of this work was personally acquainted with good Sister Ann. 
These two Sisters arrived in Monroe in September, 1845. New members 
joined them, and the congregation which took the name of the Immacu- 
late Heart of Mary began to increase. The Sisters assumed a blue 
habit and a black veil. Father Gilet, their founder, gave to them the 
rule of the Redemptorists, with such modifications as their condition 

1 There exists a little pamphlet entitled " Life of Fr. Francis Poilvache." This little 
book is substantially our work. We gathered all the material, wrote the book, and hand- 
ed it over to the authorities for examination. Our surprise was great, when, the proof- 
sheets falling into our hands, we discovered that the book had been so altered that we 
could no longer call it our own. Being unwilling to take upon ourselves the respon- 
sibility for its style, we refused to have it appear under our name, and it was, in conse- 
quence, published anonymously. We firmly believe that Father Francis Poilvache was 
one of the saints of the nineteenth century, and a man singularly privileged by God, who 
was pleased to raise him to what the mystics call the Via Extraordinaria, — the Extraor- 
dinary Way. 

537 



538 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



required. They opened a school in Monroe, and, to-day, it is in a most 
flourishing condition. 

In 1847, Father Gilet was recalled to Baltimore, and Father Giles 
Smulders succeeded him as Superior of the small community of Mon- 
roe. This good Father continued to take a great interest in the new 
community of Sisters. Father Gilet did not long remain a Redemp- 
torist. He left the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and, 
afterwards, entered the Order of the Strict Observance of Citeaux in 
the Abbey of Hautecombe in Savoy, where, a short time since, he ex- 
pired. A few years ago, while engaged in composing the life of Father 
Poilvache, we received a letter from Dora Marie-Celestine, formerly 
Father Louis Gilet, filled with words of the greatest praise for the 
saintly Poilvache, who died at Monroe on January 27th, 1848. A few 
years later, in 1855, the Redemptorists gave up their house at Monroe 
and a secular priest became the Superior of the Sisters. For many 
years they have been under the direction of Mgr. Joos, Vicar-General 
of the diocese of Detroit. 

The saintly Bishop Neumann of Philadelphia, established a branch 
of the community of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in his diocese, and 
it became independent of the mother-house of Monroe. The rules of 
the Sisters in Pennsylvania have undergone a few modifications. This 
congregation possesses at present three separate and independent 
mother-houses, with many missions in the dioceses of Detroit, Phila- 
delphia and Scranton. 

The first member of the congregation, the aged and venerable Moth- 
er Teresa, still lives in the mother-house of the diocese of Philadelphia, 
at West Chester, Penn. 



INSTITUTE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, OR, OF THE 
"ENGLISH LADIES." 



HHE foundress of this congregation, Mary Ward, was born in Eng- 



X land in 1585, of earnest Catholic parents. When she was about 
twenty-one years of age, she passed over to the continent, and entered 
the Colettine convent of St. Omer. By the advice of her Superiors 
she soon left it to put into execution a project she had conceived of 
founding a community for English ladies. She obtained a piece of 
ground at Gravelines from the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, with 
permission to build a house of English Poor Clares upon it. Many 
ladies joined her, and the community was begun in 1607, Mary begin- 
ning her novitiate. 

Believing that she was not called to the Order of Poor Clares, she 
left the community in 1609, and, having returned to England, establish- 
ed the first community of the " English Virgins" at Spitalfields in 161 1. 
Sometime after, she went back to St. Omer, where she founded a sec- 
ond community. In 161 7, she opened a house at Liege, which was fol- 
lowed by others in Italy and Bavaria. In 1703, many years after her 
death, the order was formally confirmed by Clement XI. According 
to the idea of the foundress, the congregation devotes itself to teach- 
ing, follows the rule of the Society of Jesus, and binds its members by 
temporary, not perpetual, vows. 1 

1 Catholic Dictionary. — See Life of Mary Ward. 




LADIES OF LORETTO. 



MONG the many English and Irish ladies whom the persecutions 



f\ against the faith in their own country during the seventeenth cen- 
tury forced to seek a home in foreign lands, some settled in Bavaria. 
Several of these, desirous of devoting themselves to the education of 
}^outh, formed a society which was encouraged by Maximilian, Duke 
of Bavaria, and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. The first estab- 
lishment of this congregation was in Munich. The Sisters took the 
three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Being a congregation 
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, they received the name of 
Ladies of Loretto. In the year 1782, their institute was approved by 
the Holy See on June 13. It then numbered six houses, namely, in 
Munich, Augsburg, Burghausen, Mindelheim, Hammersmith, andjosk. 
The congregation was governed by a Superior-General, who resided 
at Munich, and, in that, year, was Mary-Ann Bapthorp. In a Bull of 
Benedict XIV. of 1749, they were called Sisters of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary of Munich. In 18 16, Pius VII. dispensed the various communi- 
ties from the obedience to a common Superior-General, and placed them 
under the jurisdiction of the Diocesan Bishops. Since that time the 
congregation has gone over to Ireland, where it has been wonderfully 
developed. It possesses seven convents in the diocese of Dublin alone. 

In the year 1847, Mgr. Michael Power, Bishop of Toronto, Canada, 
obtained for his diocese five Sisters of this congregation from the 
abbey of Dalkey, near Dublin, which is an affiliation of that of the 
abbey of Loretto of Rathfarnham in Bavaria. These five religious 
reached Toronto on September j6, 1847. Bishop Power died a few 
days after, and they were left greatly to their own resouces. Three 
of their number died, and the two survivors would have been left 
without a home had it not been for a charitable person, who lent them 
his own house, moving with his family to another one. Finally, how- 
ever, in 1853, they were enabled to take possession of a house built 
for them, at his own expense, by Mgr. de Charbonnel, Bishop of To- 
ronto. The Sisters have now two flourishing institutions, one in To- 
ronto, and the other at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. They are 
also in the dioceses of London and Hamilton in Canada. 




540 



CONGREGATION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 



IN 1648, several charitable persons of the parish of St. Sulpice in 
Paris formed among themselves an association, and gathered to- 
gether a number of orphans of both sexes, of which they took charge, 
making it a rule not to admit any but those born of a legitimate mar- 
riage, and belonging to that parish. The house founded by them 
received the name of House of the Mother of God. Its members were 
governed by a Superior. They were called Sisters, and they wore a 
black habit. In the fifth year of the Republic, the institution was 
united to the Hospice of the Infant Jesus. 

In the year 1806, Marie Marguerite de Lezeau, who, before the 
Revolution, had been a Sister of the Order of the Visitation, began at 
the request of a priest, M. Duvey, to instruct a number of little girls. 
Six companions soon joined her, among whom were two Sisters of the 
House of the Mother of God, to whom, shortly after, two more from the 
same place were added in conformity with the desire of their Superior, 
who, before her death, had requested Madame de Lezeau to become 
the mother of her daughters. Madame de Lezeau and her companions 
adopted the rules and the habit of the ladies of the orphan asylum of 
the Mother of God. The Cure of St. Sulpice recognized her as 
the Superior of the institute. The former rules were modified so 
that, henceforward, only female orphans were to be admitted, and the 
Sisters were no longer restricted to orphans of the parish of St. Sul- 
pice, but they were permitted to receive them from the entire city of 
Paris. In the year 1807, they were permitted by the government to 
resume their former name of Ladies of the House of the Mother of 
God, with the title of Congregation, and to open a novitiate. In 1809, 
the statutes of the congregation were approved by Cardinal Fesch. 
In the following year, the government decreed the establishment of 
six new houses, with Madame de Lezeau as Superior-General, but only 
three were founded. 

In 181 1, the congregation adopted the rule of St. Augustin, with the 
constitutions which St. Francis de Sales had given to the Nuns of the 
Visitation, modified to suit the exigencies of the new institute. From 
this period, also, the Sisters began to take vows. In 18 17, these vows 
were rendered perpetual. The Ladies of the Mother of God are, at 
present, also in England. 

541 



SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH. 



MGR. DE MAUPAS. — P. MEDAILLE.— SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH. — SISTERS OF 
ST. JOSEPH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD.— NUMEROUS FOUNDATIONS. — 
SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF CLUNY. 

THIS congregation was established, in 1650, at Puy in Velay, by 
Henri de Maupas, Bishop of that city. St. Francis de Sales had, 
a short time before, founded the Order of the Visitation. His first 
intention had been to found a congregation of which the members would 
attend the sick, and he changed his plan at the suggestion of the Arch- 
bishop of Lyons. Mgr. de Maupas, beholding this, determined to ex- 
ecute the original intentions of the holy Bishop of Geneva. This pious 
thought was suggested to the Bishop by Father Jean-Pierre Medaille 
of the Society of Jesus. This zealous missionary had, on his apostolic 
journeys, met with several pious widows and young women who de- 
sired to consecrate themselves to the service of God and of their neigh- 
bor. He informed the Bishop of this, and suggested that it would 
be easy to establish a congregation which would fill the place left vacant 
by the religious of the Visitation who had lately embraced the enclosure. 
The Bishop at once entered into the views of the Jesuit, who sent for 
his candidates. On October 5, 1650, the Bishop confided to them the 
direction of the orphan asylum of Puy. He prescribed the form of 
their habit, gave them rules for their direction, and placed them under 
the patronage of St. Joseph. On March 10th, 1651, he publicly author- 
ized the Congregation of St. Joseph. After the translation, in 1661, of 
Mgr. de Maupas to the See of Evreux, his successor, Ariste Armand 
de Bethune, continued to take the greatest interest in the institute, 
which he confirmed in 1665. The congregation now spread to several 
other dioceses in France. At Clermont in Auvergne, they took the name 
of Sisters of St. Joseph of the Good Shepherd, as they devoted them- 
selves to the care of penitent women. The constitutions of the Sisters 
of St. Joseph were first printed in 1693. 

Dispersed at the sad epoch of the French Revolution, the Sisters, as 
well those of the Good Shepherd as of the other branches of the 
Congregation of St. Joseph, afterwards re-established their communi- 
ties in France, whence they spread elsewhere. They possess numer- 

542 



SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH. 



543 



ous foundations in the United States. They established themselves in 
St. Louis, whither they had come with Bishop Rosati from Lyons, in 
1836. 

Some of their communities are still, according to their original in- 
stitution, independent of those of other dioceses, being subject only to 
their respective Bishops, while others have been aggregated into one 
body with a General-Superior. Several of their communities had been 
subject to the Mother-house at Lyons in France, which had under its 
dependance, not only communities of that diocese, but also, some in 
other dioceses. The Sisters of St. Joseph were introduced into Canada 
bv Mgr. de Charbonnel in 185 1. 

Mgr. Alexander Raymon Derie had, in the early part of this century, 
established a separate community at Bourg in his diocese of Belley. 
The Sisters of this community had originally belonged to those of 
Lyons. The Bishop made several additions to their constitutions. 

An entirely separate organization of female religious, founded under 
the name and protection of St. Joseph, is that of the Sisters of St. 
Joseph of Cluny. It was established on May 12, 1807, at Chalons sur- 
Saone in France, by Mother Anne Marie Javouhey, a woman of great 
virtue. Its end is the salvation of souls by the education of youth and 
the corporal works of mercy, such as the care of the poor and the sick. 

As early as 18 16 this congregation began to work in the French col- 
onies in Africa and America. It has established missions in the French 
and British West Indies, in French Guiana, in the island of St. Pierre 
and Miquelon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Senegambia, the islands 
of Reunion and St. Louis in Africa, at Pondichery in India, and, also, 
in Oceania. 

The foundress of the congregation, after a laborious life and many 
travels in Europe and America for the good of her institution, died on 
July 15, 1851. 

The first religious women whom the author of this work ever met 
were the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, in the Danish West Indies. 



CONGREGATION OF SISTERS OF ST. CHARLES. 



IN the middle of the seventeenth century, there died, victim of his 
charity, at Toul in France, a young advocate of the parliament of 
Metz, called Emmanuel Chauvenet. His life had been devoted to the 
poor, and his death was the consequence of his self-sacrificing devotion 
at the time of a contagious disease. His example was the germ whence 
sprang the congregation to which this chapter is devoted. His father, 
entering into the spirit of his departed son, consecrated his fortune to 
the good work, and a number of pious ladies having volunteered their 
services, he founded, in June, 1652, a charitable association under the in- 
vocation of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Its Directress was Barbara Thove- 
nin. After a lapse of ten years, the members of the association ex- 
pressed the desire of consecrating themselves to God by vows, and the 
Bishop of Toul favored their plan. The congregation took the name 
of St. Charles because, in 1626, a foundation had been made in favor of 
poor children by Charles IV. on the site occupied by their community. 
The place had been dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo, and it is from 
this, probably, that the Sisters adopted their name. The institute was 
approved by Mgr. Andrew de Sauzay, Bishop of Toul, and the Sisters 
were admitted to the profession of vows. It was the will of the Bish- 
op that they should follow the mode of life prescribed by St. Francis 
de Sales to the first Sisters of the Visitation. In a short time they ob- 
tained many foundations in different parts of France. 

At the epoch of the Revolution, the nuns of this congregation were 
dispersed, but when the storm had blown over, they rallied once more 
around their Superior, Augustina Cordier, who had been appointed in 
1804. 

The Congregation of St. Charles obtained, also, foundations in other 
countries, such as Germany and Bohemia, into which latter country it 
was introduced in 1837. A few years before the Revolution, about 
1777, it had been placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Nancy, 
a See founded in that year by Pius VI. The establishments under the 
direction of the Sisters of St. Charles, are hospitals for the sick of both 
sexes, houses for aged men and women, orphan asylums, poor-houses, 
insane asylums for both sexes, and institutions of charity with schools. 

Essentially they are hospital Sisters. They also make it a point of duty 

544 



CONGREGATION OF SISTERS OF ST. CHARLES. 545 



to render their services during- periods of epidemics. They have no 
lay-sisters. They add to the three ordinary vows of religion, that of 
practising charity. They have adopted the rule of St. Augustin. The 
mother-house of the congregation in France is at the Hospital of St. 
Charles in Nancy. It is governed by an ecclesiastical Superior, togeth- 
er with a General and her council. 




CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME OF MONTREAL 



MARGARET BOURGEOYS.— M. OLIER.— CANADA.— TRIALS. — SUBSEQUENT 
HISTORY. 

MARGUERITE Bourgeoys, the foundress of this congregation, was 
born at Troyes, in France. The Sisters of Notre Dame, found- 
ed by Blessed Peter Fourier, directed in that city a congregation of 
young ladies of which Marguerite became a member. Her piety and 
regularity of life were such that, in 1643, her confessor permitted her 
to take a vow of perpetual chastity. In company with two other young 
ladies, she began to instruct young girls, taking as model the zeal of 
the Blessed Virgin for the salvation of souls. 

About this time, the missions in New France, or Canada, were at- 
tracting great attention at home, and zealous souls were hungering for 
a share in the work performed in that distant portion of the Lord's 
vineyard. The celebrated M. Olier and M. Le Royes de la Dauves- 
siere had resolved to establish a colony on Montreal Island, the spot 
most exposed to the fury of the savage Iroquois, and, together with 
the colony, three societies, one of priests, another of hospital Sisters, 
and a third of teachers. To succeed in his endeavors, M. Olier estab- 
lished a society of pious persons known under the name of Our Lady 
of Montreal. The three communities were destined to honor, in an es- 
pecial manner, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The plan soon ripened, and 
the first result was the establishment of the Society of Priests of St. 
Sulpice. 

Magaret Bourgeoys, having learned of the intention of founding in 
Canada a society in honor of the Mother of God, felt a strong desire 
to take part in the work. Being introduced to M. Paul de Chomedy 
de Maisonneuve, who had accepted the position of Director of the 
Colony of Villemarie, she immediately recognized in him the person 
whom, a short time before, she had seen in a dream. Being asked to 
accompany him to Canada to become an instructress of youth, she 
at once gave her consent. However, as she afterwards hesitated on 
account of the dangers to which she would be exposed, a singular favor 
she received from Heaven, a vision of the Blessed Virgin, finally de- 
termined her decision. Having renounced all her property, she 

546 



CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME OF MONTREAL. 547 



joined the little band, and set sail on July 20th, 1653. On September 
22d, they arrived at Quebec, and, soon after, at Montreal or Villemarie. 
Shortly after the arrival of the first Sulpicians, Marguerite began the 
work of a teacher, having for her school a cow-shed, fit cradle for 
an order devoted to Mary, who had found no other shelter in Bethle- 
hem. In 1658, she went to France to seek for associates in her work. 
The following year she returned to Canada with three companions. 
They arrived at Quebec after a voyage of more than two months' dura- 
tion, and, a few days later, they were again in Montreal. Here they 
experienced troubles and difficulties, not only from the constant danger 
they were in of falling into the hands of the Iroquois, but also, on the part 
of the Bishop, Mgr. de Laval, who refused to erect their congregation. 
Moreover, there was a strongdesire in certain quarters to amalgamate 
them with the Ursulines, this being entirely contrary to their desires 
and intentions. 

The virtues of Marguerite Bourgeoys and her companions were the 
edification of the colony, and they exercised no little influence over 
the life of the Indian maiden, Catherine Tegaquita, who died in the 
odor of sanctity. 

In 1669 the Congregation of Notre Dame, as the institution of Mar- 
guerite was called, received finally the sanction of the Bishop, who 
now permitted it to receive postulants. The institute hereupon be- 
gan to develop, and houses were established at Quebec, Orleans, 
Chateau Richer, La Chine, Pointe-aux-Trembles, and other places. It 
was not, however, until 1698, that their rules were approved by the 
Bishop of Quebec, many difficulties having hitherto been brought for- 
ward onaccount of their novel mode of life, sodifferent from that of other 
female orders in which the cloister was observed. Little did the 
authorities foresee that this mode of life would so soonbecomeprevalent 
among most female congregations. These rules were prepared by M. 
Tronson, Superior of the Priests of St. Sulpice. After their acceptance 
by the community, the Sisters took the three simple vows of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience, on June 25th, 1698. The work of Mother Mar- 
garet was now accomplished. After a long life of heroism, she ex- 
pired on January 12th, 1700. Some years before her saintly death, 
she had been succeeded in the government of the congregation by Sis- 
ter Barbier, a Religious who faithfully imitated the virtues of the holy 
foundress. 

During the course of the eighteenth century, the Congregation of 
Noire Dame continued its noble work, in spite of rumors of war, the 
din of arms, and conflagrations. It saw Canada pass from France to 
England ; it beheld the uprising of the colonies against the mother- 



548 



HI8T0RY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



country, but little affected, it went quietly on, performing its labors 
of charity, the work of the instruction of youth. To-day the congre- 
gation is no longer limited to Canada, but it possesses several missions 
in the United States. 

The Sisters of this congregation, which is, as it were, a daughter of 
the order founded by Blessed Peter Fourier, take the simple vows of 
religion. Their habit is black. 



CONGREGATION OF THE BON SAUVEUR. 



ST. Francis de Sales, in founding the Order of the Visitation, had as 
object the establishing of a community of women who, without 
being cloistered, would devote themselves to the service of their 
neighbor. We have seen how his plans were interfered with, and 
how the Order of the Visitation grew to be cloistered. His idea was 
revived in the foundation of the community of the Bon Sauveur, or, 
the Good Saviour. It began in the city of Saint-Lo in France, about 
the year 171 2. It was approved by Mgr. de Brienne, Bishop of Cou- 
tances. A similar community was soon after independently founded 
at Caen, and a communion of spiritual goods sprang up between the 
two. 

The Sisters of both houses devote themselves to the education of 
youth, to the care ol the sick in their homes, and take charge of insane 
women. At the period when they undertook the latter work it was 
the more meritorious, as society looked with horror upon the insane,, 
who were frequently treated in the most inhuman manner. It is hard 
to realize in this century how those poor unfortunates were regarded 
by our forefathers. Truly, it took the world a longtime to learn cer- 
tain necessary things which every child knows to-day. Besides these 
charitable enterprises, the Community of Caen also undertook that of 
the instruction and reformation of fallen women, at the request of the 
Lieutenant-General of the police of Caen. For a time this was the dis- 
tinctive work of that community. 

The French Revolution dispersed both houses, but the good Sisters 
continued their charitable works in private, until, circumstances being 
more favorable, they were able to establish themselves again in com- 
munity. In 18 18, the community of Caen ceased to take charge of 
fallen women, there being another community in the city specially de- 
voted to that object. 

At present the community of Caen devotes itself to the following 
works: the care of the insane of both sexes, the education of young 
ladies, the instruction of deaf-mutes, the visiting and care of the sick, 
the keeping of schools for poor children, the direction of an asylum of 
aged ladies, and the forming of teachers for country schools. The com- 
munity of Caen has, since the year 1821, become the mother-house of 
a congregation, while that of Saint-Lo still remains isolated, as it was 
in the beginning. 

549 



GREY NUNS OF CANADA. 



MADAME D'YOUVILLE.— FIRST COMPANIONS. — TRIALS. — CONTAGIOUS DIS- 
EASES. —CONVERSION OF A PROTESTANT. — SPREAD OF THE CONGRE- 
GATION. 

HP HE general hospital of Montreal was founded by M. Frangois 
j[ Charon de la Barre. In company with Jean Ferdinand Pierre le 
Ber, he obtained, in 1688, from the Superior of St. Sulpice in Montreal, 
a piece of ground for the purpose, at Pointe a Calliere. The end of the 
foundation was to harbor poor children, orphans, cripples, aged, infirm, 
and other poor persons of the male sex. A community of men arose 
in this institution which, in 1694, was approved by Mgr. de Saint- Val- 
ier, second Bishop of Quebec, under the title of Hospital Brothers of 
St. Joseph of the Cross. This institution proved a failure. In 1747, a 
woman appeared on the scene who was destined to save the hospital 
from becoming a complete wreck. 

Marie Marguerite du Frost de la Jemmerais was born in 1701, at 
Varenne near Montreal. In 1722, she married M. d'Youville, but she 
was left a widow with two children in 1730. She now consecrated 
herself to the service of the poor. In a short time several pious 
women joined her in her works of charity. Her enlightened zeal was 
cause that the Sulpicians cast their eyes upon her asonefitted to become 
directress of the hospital. She was given temporary charge of it in 
1747. In spite of the popular opposition against her, Madame d'You- 
ville and her companions were placed in charge of the hospital by an 
order of the court of Versailles. They were, at the same time, legally 
established as a community. The first companions of Madame d'You- 
ville were Marie Louise Thaumur, Catherine Demer-Dessermont, 
Catherine de Rinville, Therese Lasser-Laforme, and Agathe Veron- 
neau. 

Like all infant communities, that of Montreal was obliged to pass 
through the crucible of great afflictions, but Divine Providence showed 
itself always nigh in the hour of need. 

The foundress, Madame d'Youville, died in 1771. Her daughters 
continued to walk on her footsteps. When, in 1847, a contagious dis- 
ease prevailed among the thousands of Irish emigrants in Montreal, 

550 



V 



GREY NUNS OF CANADA. 



551 



the Sisters of Charity, founded by Madame d'Youville, heroically 
devoted themselves to the task of nursing those that had been strick- 
en by the pestilence, and seven of their members died martyrs of 
charity. 

A singular occurrence took place about the year 1853. A young 
Protestant girl, Catherine Kollmyer, struck by the passage in the 
Bible in which Christ promises eternal life to those who perform 
works of mercy toward their neighbor, ran away from her home, at 
the age of sixteen, and begged to be admitted among the Grey Nuns. 
Her parents took her home, but, in spite of all obstacles, she persist- 
ed in her resolution, returned to the hospital, and became a Catholic 
and a novice in the community. God was satisfied with her good 
will, for she died soon after, with the sweet hope of going to Jesus 
Christ in heaven, according to the promise of the Bible. 

In 1840, the Grey Nuns established themselves in the diocese of 
Saint Hyacinthe, and in 1844, in that of Saint Boniface in Manitoba. 
In 1847 they went to Quebec. The Grey Nuns also form a separate 
community in the diocese of Ottawa. They have several establish- 
ments in the United States. They are known as Grey Nuns, on ac- 
count of the color of their habit. 



SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF MARY. 



IN 1772, a poor woman named Anne Langlais, living- at Bauge in 
France, received into her house, out of charity, a sick girl, on whom 
she lavished all manner of kindness. M. Brault, a virtuous priest of that 
place, who, for some time, had nourished the desire of founding an in- 
stitution lor the care of the infirm and the aged, seeing this charity of 
Anne Langlais, cast his eyes upon her as upon one likely to aid him in 
his enterprise. He confided to her several infirm people, interested 
charitable persons in favor of the work, and rented a larger house for 
the purpose. Four other women associated themselves to Anne Lang- 
lais in her acts of charity. In 1785, a lady, member of an illustrious fam- 
ily, Mademoiselle Anne-Rence-Felix-Hardouin de la Girouardiere, also 
joined Anne Langlais and her companions, and consecrated her in- 
come to the good work. Thus were laid the foundations of this new 
congregation. In 1789 the first Sisters, to the number of eleven, took 
the three vows of religion, together with that of serving the poor. 
The institute assumed the title of Congregation of the Sacred Heart 
of Mary, and the Sisters adopted a black habit, there being a difference 
in form between that of the choir and that of the lay-religious. Dur- 
ing the French Revolution, the new congregation, in its poverty, es- 
caped the universal wreck of religious institutions, and continued 
its labors. It also became an asylum for many religious women 
who had been driven away from their homes. 

Mile, de la Girouardiere, who had developed and consolidated the in- 
stitute, and given to it its rules in concert with M. Brault, died on 
December 10th, 1827. 

The congregation adopted the rule of St. Augustin, and, in 1834, a 
mitigated cloister. It consisted of choir nuns, lay, and out-door Sis- 
ters. In 1847 tne rules were modified by the Bishop of the diocese. 



SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION OF MARY. 



HP HE Venerable Marie Anne Rivier, foundress of this congrega- 
1 tion, was born at Montpezat, in the diocese of Viviers, France, on 
December 19th, 1768. At an early age, a fall threatened to render her 
a cripple for life, but she was miraculously cured through the interces- 
sion ot the Blessed Virgin. Her young life was, after this event, en- 
tirely consecrated to the practise of piety and good works. For several 
years she felt herself inspired to found a community of teachers who 
would go into the different parishes to teach children and adult 
women the principles of religion so universally forgotten during those 
days of disorder. It was a hardy thought in those times of irreligion, 
when the old order of things had been subverted and the religious 
orders were dispersed. In these sentiments, the pious lady associated 
to herself five companions who possessed no learning, and continued to 
wear the coarse garments they had been accustomed to. This act of 
hers drew upon her the ridicule of the world, but she heeded it not. 
After much waiting, she obtained permission of the Vicar-General 
to continue her work, and she bought a house, of which she took pos- 
session on November 17, 1797. Her community gradually increased 
and prospered in spite of many trials, both within and without. In 
course of time it took the name of the Presentation. The saintly found- 
ress died on February 3d, 1838. In 1853, a house of this congrega- 
tion was founded at Sainte-Marie de Monnoir, in the diocese of St. 
Hyacinth, Canada. 

553 



LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 



FATHER VARIN. — MADAME BARAT.— THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. — FOUNDA- 
TION IN AMERICA.— BJSHOP DUBOURG. 

r pHIS congregation was founded in France in 1800, by Father 
Joseph Varin, then a member of the temporary Society of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, who entered the order of the Jesuits on its res- 
toration in 1 8 14. Its foundress and first Superior-General was Mad- 
ame Madaleine Josephine Barat. It was approved by Pope LeoXIL 
in 1826. Its rules, as well as its system of education, are based on 
those of the Society of Jesus. The mother-house of the congregation 
is in Paris. 

Sophie Madeleine Barat was born at Joigny in Burgundy, in the year 
1779. Her early education was directed by her brother, an ecclesias- 
tic, and under his tuition she acquired an amount of knowledge that 
rendered her worthy of the title of a well-instructed woman. 

Father Varin, as we have said, was a member of the Society of the 
Sacred Heart, which served as a substitute for the suppressed Society 
of Jesus. It was, afterwards, united to another congregation, of which 
the members bore the title of Fathers of the Faith. 

About the year 1800, Father Varin met Mademoiselle Barat, whose 
brother had become a member of his society. This good priest had,, 
for a long time, desired the establishment of a congregation of women 
on the same plan as the one on which the Society of the Sacred Heart 
existed. The young lady seemed to him to be the one destined by 
Divine Providence for this work, and accordingly, he set his design in- 
to execution with her cooperation, and that of a few of her friends, 
uniting them into a small community in Paris. On November 21st, 
1800, they consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 
The first house of the new community was at Amiens, and Mademoi- 
selle Loquet was named Superior. The first title given to them gen- 
erally was that of Ladies of the Faith, or Ladies of Christian Instruc- 
tion. Mademoiselle Barat and Mademoiselle Deshayes were the first 
to take the vows. The ceremony took place on June 7th, 1802. 
Mademoiselle Loquet, having been found unfitted for the society, 
Sophie Barat became Superior. At Amiens she made the acquaint- 

554 



LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 



555 



ance of Julia Billiart, the foundress of the Congregation of Notre 
Dame, which also owed its existence to Father Varin, and a holy 
friendship sprang up between these two God-loving souls. 

In 1804, the Society of the Sacred Heart separated from the Fa- 
thers of the Faith, and the consequence was that the congregation of 
Madame Barat also broke the ties which united it to a similar com- 
munity that was under the direction of the latter in Rome. The lit- 
tle congregation now began to gain extension throughout France. 

On the reestablishment of the Society of Jesus, Father Varin and 
many of his companions joined it. Meanwhile the Ladies of the Sa- 
cred Heart had to pass through the crucible of great afflictions, but 
trusting in Providence, their little bark came safely out of the 
storm. The constitutions prepared by Father Varin were accepted in 
18 1 5. They decided that the Superior-General should hold her office 
for life, and that, besides the three ordinary vows of religion, the Sisters 
should bind themselves by that of stability. 

The work of Madame Barat received its finishing touch on Decem- 
ber 22d 1826, when the Papal Brief approving her congregation was 
signed. The foundress lived many years after this, and died in 1865. 1 

In 18 1 8, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart came into the United States 
and established a community at Florissant in Missouri. Hence they 
spread to various other dioceses of this country. In 1842 they opened 
a boarding-school at Mc Sherrytown, near Conewago, Penn., which 
they left in 1849 for their present location at Eden Hall, near Philadel- 
phia. Two years before, they had also established themselves in that 
city. 

In 1 841, they had begun a foundation in New York. The first Su- 
perior of this community was the Russian princess, Madame Elizabeth 
Gallitzin, whose conversion to the faith had entailed the persecution of 
the Jesuits in Russia. She died in Louisiana on December 8th, 1843. 2 

In the Life of the Venerable Madeleine Barat, we read the following 
account of the establishment of the American mission. 

"On the 14th of January, 1817, Monseigneur Dubourg, Bishop of 
Louisiana, who was then at Paris, came to see the Mother-General. It 
so happened that Mother Duchesne was Portress that day. She 
opened the door to him, and went to announce his visit to her Superi- 
or. She could not help saying to Mother Barat: ' This is the hour 
of Providence. I do beseech you, dear Mother, do not lose the op- 
portunity. You have only to say one word: I implore you, say it.' 
The Mother-General answered, 'My child, if Monseigneur gives me 
an opening, I can talk over the subject with him. I shall know by 
1 Life of the Venerable Madeleine Barat. 2 De Courcy— Shea. 



556 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



that sign that it is God's will/ In that first interview, the Bishop did 
not allude to the subject. He only proposed to say Mass the next day 
in the chapel. After that Mass, Mother Barat sat and conversed with 
him while he breakfasted, and he began at once to speak of America and 
his diocese, and then said how glad he should be to have daughters of 
the Sacred Heart there. Mother Barat replied, ' When such a thing 
becomes possible, Monseigneur, I shall have some one quite ready to 
go,' and she spoke to him of her friend's vocation. The Bishop was 
delighted with what he heard, and asked to see her. Mother Du- 
chesne was sent for. She felt that her prayers were answered ; but she 
could not find a word to say. All she could do was to kneel at the 
Bishop's feet and ask his blessing. This brief interview filled both the 
Bishop and herself with hope, and she found that that very moment a 
pain in the side she had suffered from for fifteen years suddenly dis- 
appeared. Sight and strength seemed to have both been simulta- 
neously vouchsafed to her, but nothing was yet decided. Many difficul- 
ties attended the affair, and as the Bishop was leaving Paris for a little 
while, the ultimate decision was delayed till his return. In the mean- 
time, he went to seek for apostles and assistance for his distant flock. 
All that she saw and heard of this holy prelate served to increase 
Madame Duchesne's zeal. He was above all things a missionary. 
Alter laboring greatly in the South, he had been named Vicar-Apos- 
tolic of New Orleans, and, in 1815, the termination of the war between 
America and England enabled him to come to Europe. He was con- 
secrated Bishop at Rome, and thence returned to France. In Italy he 
had secured the assistance of several priests and }^oung clerics who 
were to accompany him to America. At L^ons, where he stopped on 
his way, he had not only inspired many of the clergy with a mis- 
sionary spirit, but sown also the seeds of one of the greatest works of 
the Church in this century, for it was his eloquent fervent preaching 
that gave rise to the Association of the Propagation of the Faith. At 
the time we are speaking of, he was travelling in the North of France 
and the low countries, recruiting associates, collecting alms and get- 
ting together not only vessels for the altar, and other articles of church 
furniture, but also tools of all sorts for the tillage of the land : for he 
had determined to cultivate the soil as well as to work for the salva- 
tion of souls in his diocese. Forty missionaries, whom he had per- 
suaded to sail with him, were preparing for the New World a fresh 
effusion of the Holy Ghost. Mother Duchesne was watching the ad- 
vance of spring, and impatiently longing for the return of the servant 
of God. He- arrived on the day after the feast of the Ascension. The 
Bishop was determined to obtain from the Mother-General a definite 



LADIES OF THE 8 AC RED HEART. 



557 



promise. She was not quite prepared to give it, hesitated, and asked 
for another delay. It almost seemed as if Mother Duchesne's hopes 
were again doomed to be deceived. After many fruitless entreaties, 
the Bishop was taking a sorrowful leave of the Superior, she was ac- 
companying him to the door, and both were sad and thoughtful. Just 
then, Mother Duchesne appeared, guessed what was going on, threw 
herself on her knees before her Superior, and with her hands clasped 
together exclaimed, " Give your consent, dear Mother; give your con- 
sent." The Reverend Mother prayed an instant in silence; God at 
that moment sent a ray of light into her soul ; she understood it was 
His will, and her hesitations were over. " I grant you your request, 
my dear Philippine," she said, "and I will immediately occupy my- 
self in finding companions for you." The American mission had been 
carried by storm. It was agreed upon with the Bishop that in the 
course of the following spring, a colony of the Sacred Heart would 
embark for Louisiana, where he was hurrying himself and would pre- 
pare for it a place. It was not difficult to find companions for Mother 
Duchesne. Many of the Sisters offered themselves. The first was 
Octavie Berthold, who was then thirty years of age. She had just 
made her vows in the Paris novitiate, on the feast of the Holy Mar- 
tyrs of Japan. She was the daughter of an infidel philosopher, who 
had been one of Voltaire's secretaries, was brought up a Calvinist, and 
remained one till she was more than twenty ; then she became a Cath- 
olic, and entered the novitiate of Sainte-Marie d'en Haut. Hers was 
one of those ardent souls, which, when they have once seen the truth, 
never falter in its pursuit. Her gratitude to our Lord, and her desire 
to devote her whole life to the service of that God, too late known and 
too late loved, drove her to the foreign missions. Then Madame 
Aude, though only twenty-four years of age, informed Mother Barat 
that she was ready to embark for America, and on the eve of her de- 
parture she was professed at Paris, and made her final vows. . Two 
lay-sisters, both of them somewhat advanced in life, and persons of 
tried virtue, completed the little colony. When the parting moment 
came, the Mother-General spoke to her dear missionaries with the 
deepest feeling of their happiness in being called to carry the love of 
the Sacred Heart into distant lands. " Oh ! if you went so far," she 
•exclaimed, " to set up only one new altar and teach one poor savage to 
make an act of love, would not that be joy enough for this life, enough 
merit for eternity ! " Mother Duchesne was named Superior of the 
American Mission, with exceptional powers. She was almost over- 
whelmed with joy, that she was actually assigned the work she had so 
long desired, and bravely did she and her companions go through the 



558 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



last partings. They had to wait some time at Bordeaux for a favor- 
able wind, and went to take leave of Monseigneur d' Avian before they 
sailed, and asked his blessing. A priest who was in the room said to 
the Archbishop: *' I cannot find out in any of their souls anything but 
perfect peace." 

" And joy," Mother Duchesne quickly added. 

" At last they embarked on the Rebecca, which sailed from Rouen on 
the 2 1 st of March, 1818. Monseigneur Dubourg had sailed on the 27th 
of June of the preceding year, in the Caravane, which Louis XVIII. 
had placed at the disposal of the Bishop, and his missionaries. He had 
left M. Mortail, his Vicar-General, to take charge of the little colony of 
Nuns of the Sacred Heart. He was the only priest on board the Rebecca* 
The passage, which is now accomplished in a fortnight, at that time lasted 
three months. Two months elapsed before any tidings of the travellers 
reached the mother-house. Madame Barat kept writing anxious let- 
ters to New Orleans: "We are incessantly praying that you may 
have a prosperous journey. How happy we shall be when we hear of 
your arrival." The first letter received from Mother Duchesne was 
dated May 16th, the anniversary of the day when she had obtained her 
Superior's consent to her departure.- It was from the coast of Cuba, 
more than a thousand leagues from France, that she now wrote to re- 
new her thanks for that consent, and described her voyage, which had 
been a most trying and even perilous one. In the first days of August 
the Mother-General received at last the news of the happy arrival of 
her missionaries. On the 25th of May the Rebecca had entered the 
waters of the Mississippi, and the little colony landed on the 29th, 
which happened to be that year the feast of the Sacred Heart. Then 
be^an that long course of patient endurance of delay, of acceptance of 
hardship, of suffering sweetened by joys, not to be even conceived by 
those who have not studied the lives of the saints, which attended the 
first years spent in America by Mother Barat's brave and devoted 
daughters. Their history with all its vicissitudes, their trials and 
disappointments, the hardships of those foundations in solitary regions 
amidst primeval forests, amongst hostile or indifferent populations, the 
gradual advance of the work which was destined to take such deep 
root and extend itself far and wide in the New World, has been related 
in the life of that heroic woman of desires, who, for twelve years, 
waited and prayed, and then, in her already advanced age, entered 
upon the course which had been the dream of her youth, the object of 
her existence. Mother Barat and this beloved friend and daughter of 
hers never met again on earth ; but a stronger tie can scarcely be con- 
ceived than the one which united them." 



LADIES OF THE 8 A CRED HEART. 



559 



"What the soul of the Mother-General had yearned to effect, Madame 
Duchesne was carrying out. How much she was strengthened, sup- 
ported, guided, even in her most difficult path, by the wisdom, the pru- 
dence, the holy firmness of the servant of God, who, from afar, watched 
over the slow progress at first, and then the marvellous extension of 
her society, in a country where its religious life was a novelty, and 
the material and moral difficulties on a par, it would be difficult to 
overestimate. At the very outset of their apostolic life in America, 
she conveyed to the missionary Sisters the strongest encouragement 
the}' could receive, the words with which the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius 
VII., had blessed the new mission of the Sacred Heart. The Holy 
Father had seen with joy how, abandoning everything for Jesus Christ, 
and rising above the weakness of their sex, these religious had not been- 
afraid to cross the ocean, to transport their pious institute into savage 
countries, and to consecrate themselves to the greater glory of God, 
the honor of the Church, and the salvation of souls. His Holiness 
wished them the most prosperous success, in token of which he gave 
his blessing, not only to those already gone, but to all those who would 
prepare themselves to follow 7 them some day." 




SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY. 



HP HE object of this congregation is to honor all the mysteries of 
the Incarnate Word, and to represent the hidden life of Jesus, 
Mary, and Joseph. Its founder, the Abbe Villeroy, was a man of great 
virtue, who, being Vicar-General of the diocese of Seez during the exile 
of the Bishop, Mgr. Duplessis d'Argentray, sustained the courage of the 
clergy by the wisdom of his counsels. He died at Seez on December 20, 
1823. The one who cooperated with him in the establishment of this con- 
gregation, was Mother Marie-ThereseRaguenel,a woman without much 
human education, but who possessed a high degree of supernatural 
wisdom. She was born of humble parents in the year 1777. After 
many years spent in the practice of virtue, she left her home, about 
the year 1 801, to place herself under the direction of the Abbe Villeroy 
at Seez. She rented a small room in order to live in solitude, though 
having no intention to found a religious institute. In this her congre- 
gation resembles many of the older orders which were spontaneously 
developed without a preconceived plan. Within a few months' time 
two companions, drawn towards her in a remarkable manner, joined her. 
She received them only with the greatest repugnance, and in obedience 
to the wishes of the director. Both Mademoiselle Raguenel and her 
first companion, in taking the step which consecrated them to God, 
had, it seems, the thought of imitating the Holy Family flying into 
Egypt. The poverty which these poor girls had to endure was ex- 
treme, so that a pious young lady named Le Doyen, having been in- 
formed of it, came to their aid, and even, afterwards, gave all she had 
to them and joined their company. Before this, four other young wom- 
en were added to their number. 

At the request of Mademoiselle Raguenel, the Abbe Villeroy made 
for them a rule and constitutions, and gave to them the Holy Family 
as patrons. The} 7 began to take vows, which for several years were only 
annual. This rule was verbally and, afterward, in writing, approved 
by the Bishop of Seez. 

Mother Marie-Therese, after many trials, died in the odor of sanc- 
tity on March 16th, 1836. Although her institute was contemplative, 
it nevertheless afterward embraced the work of caring for orphans, 
though the latter have no communication with the nuns, and only a 
few Sisters are deputed to have charge of them. 

560 



SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE. 



M. DUJARIE.— INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.— MADEMOISELLE DU ROSCOAT. 
—COMMUNITY OF BROTHERS.— MGR. BOUVIER.— ST. MARY OF THE 
WOODS IN AMERICA. 

M JACQUES Dujarie, the founder of this congregation, was born at 
m Sainte-Marie-du-Boi in France, on December 9th, 1767. He was 
ordained priest in 1795, during the French Revolution. The first exer- 
cise of his ministry was in the midst of the greatest difficulties, on ac- 
count of the troublous times. After the concordat of 1802, he was ap- 
pointed parish priest of Ruille-sur-Loir. Seeing the neglected con- 
dition of so many poor children of his parish, he gained over two 
young women to instruct them, and to attend the sick. Shortly after, 
he built a house for them at a short distance from the town. At that 
time he had no intention of founding a religious congregation, but 
the designs of Providence went further than his. The example 
of the two young ladies was soon followed by others, so that, in 
a short time, there were nine gathered together who divided their 
time between prayer, work, and the services they rendered to the 
children and the sick. In order to form his subjects to the exercises 
of the religious life, the pious founder placed seven of them under the 
care of Madame de la Girouardiere, foundress of the Hospital of Incur- 
ables in the diocese of Angers. These young novices took the religious 
habit, and, afterwards, returned to Ruille. The grain of mustard-seed 
was gradually developed so that, in 1826, the community, having several 
foundations, elected a Superior-General. Mile, du Roscoat was chosen 
as such. This fervent religious, who had come from Brittany to join 
the congregation, soon brought her career to a close. To the great 
grief of her congregation she died on June 22, 1822. She was suc- 
ceeded by a younger Sister named Marie Lecor, 

About this time M. Dujarie also established a community of Broth- 
ers, but the revolution of 1830 prevented its development. A short 
time later he resigned his charge of Superior of the Brothers in favor 
of the Abbe Moreau, who transferred them to Le Mans, whither the 
founder soon followed to die in the midst of his Brothers on February 
17, 1838. This congregation of Brothers afterwards developed into 



562 



HISTORY OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



the Congregation of the Holy Cross, of which we treated in a former 

chapter. 

The Sisters of Providence now continued an independent existence. 
Thus far they had had no written rules, but, in 1834, Mgr. Bouvier, Bish- 
op of Le Mans, at their request, drew up rules and constitutions for 
them. According to these constitutions, the Sisters, besides the ordi- 
nary vows, promised to devote themselves to the instruction of young 
girls, and the service of poor sick persons. These vows are taken for 
five years. 

This congregation has grown to be very numerous in France. One 
of its principal affiliations is that of St. Mary of the Woods, in the dio- 
cese of .Vincennes in the United States. In 1839, Mgr. de la Hailan- 
diere, Bishop of Vincennes, being in France, requested a colony of these 
Sisters for his diocese. The community gladly accepted the offer of the 
new foundation, and six Sisters were designated to pass over to Amer- 
ica the following year. On July 16, 1840, they left Le Mans, to start 
out on their distant journey. After a voyage of forty days, the)' ar- 
rived in New York, where they were most hospitably received by the 
ecclesiastical authorities. They finally arrived at Vincennes, after a 
fatiguing journey. The place destined to receive them was in the 
midst of a forest. Their poverty was extreme, but God blessed their 
undertaking, and, on the very evening of their arrival, four postulants 
joined them. In the midst of the greatest privations, they passed the 
long winter of 1840-41. It was not until July, 1841, that they were en- 
abled to enter 1 heir new house and open a boarding-school. In # short 
time their number increasing, they were enabled to found otherestablish- 
ments. The foundress of the community of St. Mar} 7 of the Woods, 
was Mother Saint Theodore^ a woman of eminent virtue. She died on 
May 14. 1856. She had been preceded to the grave a few months be- 
fore by another zealous and self-sacrificing religious, her companion, 
Sister St. Francis Xavier. The Sisters of Providence have since 
that period been multiplied in various parts of the United StateSc 



SISTERS OF CHARITY OF JESUS AND MARY. 



THIS congregation is another of the institutions of the venerable 
priest, the Canon Triest, to whom the Brothers of Charity owe 
their origin. It began in 1803, in the village of Lovendegem, near 
Ghent, while its founder was parish-priest of that place. Three Sisters 
formed the nucleus of the community, founded for the instruction of 
poor children. His first intention was to affiliate it to the Sisters of 
Charity of St Vincent de Paul in France. He could not, however, 
succeed in this, as the French community refused to accede to the 
proposition. Hereupon he determined to organize an independent 
community, and drew up rules admirable for their wisdom. In 1805, 
he established his community in Ghent, in the ancient abbey of Ter- 
haegen, in the midst of the greatest poverty. In the year 1806, the 
foundation was authorized by the Emperor Napoleon, and about the 
same time, the old abbey was gratuitously bestowed upon it. A few 
years later, in 18 16, the constitutions of the congregation were ap- 
proved "by Pius VII. 

This good man, of whom the entire life had been a constant exercise 
of charity, died the death of the saints on June 24, 1836. He was can- 
on of the Church of St. Bavo, and he had received from William I., 
king of the Netherlands, the degree of knighthood of the Order of the 
Belgian Lion, and from Leopold I., king of Belgium, that of the Order 
of Leopold. Thus were his eminent services to humanity recognized 
by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. The Congregations of the 
Brothers and Sisters of Charity were not the only ones he established, for, 
in 1822, he founded the Society of the Ladies of Maternal Charity, to 
take care of poor women about to be delivered, and, in 1825, that of 
the Brothers of St. John of God, at Ghent. Ten years later, he estab- 
lished the community of the Sisters of the Infancy of Jesus, to take care 
of foundlings and sick children. At the time of his death he was med- 
itating another great work which it was not given to him to put in- 
to execution. There is, indeed, nothing so calculated to excite our 
sympathy as the sight of a priest, grown old in the service of hisneigh- 
bors, who, in his last years, is left helpless and penniless. The man of 
God desired ardently to found an asylum where such priests might 



564 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



find shelter and a living, but God was satisfied with his good will, and 
he was obliged to leave to others the realization of his project. After 
his death the institute he had founded made great progress in Belgium, 
where it obtained a number of houses. 



SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME OF NAMUR. 



MOTHER JULIA. — MADEMOISELLE BLIN DE BOURDON.— FATHER VARIN. — 
FOUNDATIONS IN BELGIUM.— DIFFICULTIES AT AMIENS. — THE SIS- 
TERS IN AMERICA. 

MARIE Rose Julia Billiart was born at Civilly, a village of Picardy, r 
in 175 1. Like many of the saints, her early years were taken 
possession of by divine grace, ere the corrupting influence of the world 
could find its way into her soul. But hers was, also, that other experi- 
ence of the saints, that for him who desires to follow Christ the cross 
is necessary. In her sixteenth year severe blows began to fall upon 
her. First came reverses of fortune in her family, then followed bodi- 
ly infirmities, which lasted for many years. But heavenly consolation 
was not wanting, and the Divine Comforter of souls poured that celes- 
tial balm into her soul which the world knows not. At one period of 
her life, the bitter days of the French Revolution, she was even depriv- 
ed of that comfort which Christians find in the ministrations of relig- 
ion. The parish-priest was forced to fly, and a schismatic took his place* 
but the latter Julia Billiart would hold no communications with. Her 
piety incensed the enemies of the Church against her, and she was 
several times in danger of her life. Though she had much to endure, 
Divine Providence watched over her, inflicting, at the same time, heavy 
blows upon this privileged * child of grace, and causing her to pass 
through the mystic Gethsemane and the bitter dereliction of Calvary 
through which so many holy souls have gone. It was in 1794 that 
she met her cooperator in the work God had in store for her, namely, 
Maria Louisa Francoise Blin de Bourdon. This lady was descended 
from a respectable family of Picardy, and was born on March 8, 1756, 
at Gezaincourt. She was educated by the Bernardinesof Doullens, and 
by the Ursulines of Amiens. At an early age she devoted herself to a 
life of piety, and resolved to renounce the world. In 1794, during the 
Revolution, she was imprisoned with her family, and released only af- 
ter the death of Robespierre. 

The condition in society of these two ladies was widely different, 
Julia Billiart being a child of the people, while Mademoiselle Blin was 
the daughter of the Viscount de Bourdon. Nevertheless a strong at- 

665 



566 



HISTORY OF RELIGIO US ORDERS. 



tachment sprang up between these two holy souls, which became the 
source of the Congregation of Notre Dame. Several other young 
ladies, joining the little circle of friends, Julia became, as it were, their 
spiritual guide. Of all these, however, only Mademoiselle Blin re- 
mained with Julia to the end to found the new congregation. 

In the year 1803, Julia and two companions rented a house at Ami- 
ens, and thus began their congregation. In obedience to her director, 
Father Varin, she undertook this work, for the purpose of instructing 
children, especially the poorest and most destitute. Her first as- 
sociate, alter Mademoiselle Blin, was Catherine Duchatel of Rheims. 
These three ladies made a vow of chastity on February 2d, 1804, and 
promised God to devote themselves to the work they had undertaken 
for His glory. They began by instructing orphans. Their first rule 
was given to them by Father Varin. The first members of the institute 
took their vows in presence of Father Varin on St. Teresa's day, 1805. 
After this, the little community began to increase to such an extent 
that their house at Amiens, becoming too small, they hired a larger one 
in the Faubourg Noyon, and, in less than a year, the congregation num- 
bered thirty-seven Sisters. As soon as they were established in the 
Faubourg Noyon, they opened a free school for poor children. Within 
a short time, some postulants joined them from Flanders in Belgium, 
and, soon after, Mother Julia established a house of her congregation 
at St. Nicholas, in the diocese of Ghent. In 1807, the community at 
Naraur was founded, with Mother St. Joseph Blin as Superior. In the 
same year, an association of ladies at Bordeaux, devoted to the educa- 
tion of children, was united to the new Congregation of Notre Dame. 

Mother Julia had now much to suffer on the part of the eccelesias- 
tical Superiors of Amiens, who seemed desirous of changing the orig- 
inal constitutions ot the institute. The result of the misunderstand- 
ing was that Mother Julia and Mother St. Joseph both removed to 
Namur, the foundation of which city became the mother-house of the 
congregation, whence new establishments went out. Some time after, 
the Bishop of Amiens acknowledged that he had been deceived, and 
he desired Mother Julia to return to his diocese, but as she could not 
accede to his wishes, by a pastoral letter of November, 181 2, he ac- 
knowledged her the Superior-General of all the Sisters of Notre Dame. 
This worthy and saintly woman who had done and suffered much for 
God, finally reached the end of her career on April 8th, 18 16. Moth- 
er St. Joseph, her first companion and associate in the foundation of 
her institute, succeeded her as Superior-General of the congregation; 
and during the time in which she held this office, that is, until her 
death, the congregation in Belgium increased in number, and its labors 



SI STUBS OF NOTRE DAME OF NAMVR. 



567 



were blessed by God in a wonderful manner. Mother St. Joseph, the 
second foundress of the congregation of Notre Dame, died in 1838. 
She was succeeded by Mother Ignatius Goethals. During the ad- 
ministration of the latter the Congregation came over to the United 
States. 

Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati, visiting Namur in 1839, m ^de the ac- 
quaintance of Mother Ignatius and her Sisters. On his return to 
America, he requested a colony of the Sisters of Notre Dame for his 
diocese. On the 9th of September of that year, eight Sisters embark- 
ed for America, and, on the 19th of the following October, landed in 
New York. They were cordially received in Cincinnati bv Bishop 
Purcell. Travelling from New York to Cincinnati they had worn a 
secular dress. The foundations of these Sisters in the diocese of Cin- 
cinnati became very flourishing, and establishments in other dioceses 
went out from them. The most important was that of Boston. They 
were brought thither in 1848, by Father McElroy, S. J., to take charge 
of the girls' school attacked to St. Mary's church, which is in charge 
of the Jesuit Fathers. They became very flourishing in the diocese 
of Boston, and opened several schools and academies, among others 
at Boston Highlands, or Roxbury. About the year 1844, the Sisters 
had also obtained a foothold in Oregon, but this foundation was trans- 
ferred to California in 185 1. 

The Sisters of this congregation had been brought to England by 
the Redemptorist Fathers as early as 1843, an d they obtained several 
foundations in that country. In 1859, they were introduced into the 
republic of Guatemala. 

Thus had the grain of mustard-seed, planted by Mothers Julia and 
St. Joseph in the soil of Amiens, grown to be a large tree, deeply root- 
ed in Belgium, and spreading its branches not only over the isle of Al- 
bion, but also covering therewith the distant lands of the West, be- 
yond the Atlantic. 1 

1 See Life of the Reverend Mother Julia. 



SISTERS OF LORETTO IN THE UNITED STATES. 



IN 1805, the saintly Charles Nerinckx joined the pioneer Priest, 
Father Badin, in his apostolic labors in Kentucky. Father Nerinckx 
had often deplored the negligence of parents in the education of their 
children. This neglect was especially apparent when the time came to 
prepare them for their first Communion, and, having so many occu- 
pations, the good Priest found it difficult to devote himself to the task 
of instructing them. This brought about in him the thought of estab- 
lishing a community of Sisters for the instruction of young girls in the 
elementary branches of education, and in the principles of religion. 
Providence came to his aid, and, on April 25th, 1812, the foundations 
of a congregation were laid. The convent consisted of a hollow square 
of log cabins, the chapel occupying a central position on one side of the 
quadrangle. This convent obtained the name of Loretto, after the sanc- 
tuary of the Blessed Virgin under that name in Italy. Besides the work 
of instruction, the Sisters were, also, to devote themselves to the care of 
orphans, and to earn their livelihood by the work of their hands. The title 
the Sisters assumed was that of "Lovers of Mary at the Foot of the Cross." 

The fervor of this young community was so great that Bishop 
Flaget was able to give the following testimony of them : " These 
women," he writes, "sought for poverty in everything; in their mon- 
asteries, and in the plain neatness of their chapels. The plainness, the 
cleanliness, the simplicity of their dwellings and of their chapels, ex- 
cited the wonder of their visitors They were the edification of all 

who knew them, •and their singular piety and penitential lives remind- 
ed one of all that we have read of the ancient monasteries of Palestine 
and Thebes." 1 

The saintly founder of this congregation, Father Nerinckx, died 
on August 12,1824, at St. Genevieve in Missouri, whither he had gone 
to visit a branch of the institution founded in that State some years 
before. At his death, the congregation already numbered a hundred 
members. Father Nerinckx was succeeded as Superior of the con- 
gregation by Rev. G. J. Chabrat. 

In November, 1824, the mother-house was removed to St. Stephen's. 
The original rule given to the Sisters by Rev. Charles Nericnkx, hav- 

1 Life of Bishop Flaget. — Spalding. 

568 



BISTERS OF L ORETTO IN THE UNITED STA TES. 569 

This congregation now possesses a flourishine- ararI P m„ ,t pi • 
sant, Mo., and in other places in the United Safes! * 



SISTERS OF CHARITY OF NAZARETH. 

IN the year 1812, two pious ladies, wishing to devote their lives to 
God and their neighbor in the religious life, placed themselves 
under the direction of Father David in Kentucky. They formed the 
nucleus of the Society of Sisters of Charity, for otherssoon joined them, 
so that, in June, 1813, their number had increased to six. A retreat 
was given them by Father David, and, at its close, an election was 
held, and a Mother-Superior and other officers were chosen. Right 
Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, the saintly Bishop of Bardstown, was 
present, and he made a moving exhortation to the Sisters, closing the 
ceremony with his episcopal benediction. The special object of this 
society contemplated by its founder, was the exercise of the corporal 
and spiritual works of mercy toward the poor, the sick, and the ig- 
norant, and the promotion of Christian education among young girls. 

The members of the society lived for several years in a brick edifice 
on St. Thomas' farm. In June, 1822, they removed to the location 
known by the name of Nazareth, whence they are called Sisters of Naz- 
areth. This farm had been purchased from a Presbyterian minister 
named Lapsley. The erection of a new convent was commenced on 
May 26th, 1826, and, in December, 1829, the Legislature of Kentucky 
granted a charter of incorporation to the new society. By the year 
1844, the number of the community had risen to seventy-six. In 1832 
had been founded the St. Vincent's Asylum at Louisville, which was 
placed under their care. 

Bishop Flaget was the first Superior of this community, and he took 
a special interest in it, giving instructions to the Superiors in regard 
to the manner in which the} 7 should preside over the communities 
entrusted to their care. He also gave lessons in grammar and other 
branches, to those who were preparing themselves to become teachers. 

Next to the Bishop, the founder, Father David, who, in 181 7 be- 
came Bishop of Mauricastro in partibus, and coadjutor to the Bishop 
of Bardstown, presided over it for twenty years, until old age and 
infirmities compelled him to resign the post. With the sanction of 
Bishop Flaget, he drew up the rules and constitutions of the society. 
They are the same as those given by St. Vincent de Paul to the Sis- 
ters of Charity in France, with the modifications which the circum- 

570 



SISTERS OF CHARITY OF NAZARETH. 



571 



stances of time and place demanded. After the resignation of Bishop 
David, Father Reynolds, afterwards Bishop of Charleston, S. C, be* 
came their Superior. 1 
a Life of Bishop Flaget. — Spalding. 



IRISH SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



MARY Frances Aikenhead founded this society in 1815, for the 
purpose of ministering to the sick and poor in hospitals and at 
their own homes. They were first established in North William St., 
Dublin, and they received the habit from Archbishop Murray. The 
congregation was approved by the Holy See in 1834. The Sisters 
follow the rule of the Society of Jesus adapted to their condition, and 
take perpetual vows. The congregation is governed by a General 
Superior, and it possesses numerous houses in Ireland, besides one in 
England. 1 

SISTERS OF LA SAINTE UNION DES S ACRES CCEURS. 

r piIIS congregation was founded at Douai by the Abbe Debrabant. 
X Its rules and constitutions are taken principally from those of the 
Visitation. Its object is the education of girls of every rank of society, 
and it possesses numerous foundations in France, two in the Argentine 
Republic, and one in this country in the diocese of Providence. 



SISTERS OF THE FAITHFUL VIRGIN. 

THIS congregation was founded about sixty years ago, mainly for 
the care of orphans. The mother-house is at La Delivrande in 
Normandy. It possesses foundations in England and in the diocese 
of Roseau, on the island of Dominica in the West Indies. 
1 Catholic Dictionary. 



CONGREGATION OF JESUS-MARIE. 



THIS congregation was founded at Lyons, in 1816, by a zealous mis- 
sionary, M. Andre Coindre and Mademoiselle Claudine Thevenet, 
who remained Superior-General of the institute until her death, 1837. 
Its object is the instruction of young girls in boarding-schools, as well 
as day-schools and orphan asylums. The first honse of the congrega- 
tion was situated near the celebrated sanctuary of Notre Dame de Four- 
vieres. 

In 1842, Sisters of this congregation were sent to the East Indies, 
where they established several foundations. About the year 1848, 
the constitutions of the congregation were approved by the Sovereign 
Pontiff. In the following year, an establishment was obtained at Bar- 
celona in Spain. 

At the invitation of the Archbishop of Quebec, and with the sanc- 
tion of Cardinal de Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons, eight Sisters em- 
barked from Havre on November 24, 1855, and landed in New York 
on December 10th. From here they went to Canada, where they es- 
tablished a foundation at Pointe Levi, opposite Quebec. Thence they 
spread to other parts of Canada. They also possess foundations in 
the United States at Providence, Rhode Island ; Fall River, Mass. ; 
and Claremont, N. H. 



THE FAITHFUL COMPANIONS OFJESUS. 



r pHIS society was founded in 1820, under the direction of Father 



Varin, of the Society of Jesus, by Madame de Bonnault d'Houet, 
and solemnly approved in 1826, by Pope Leo XII., and again, in 1837, 
by Gregory XVI. The mother-house is at Paris. The end of the 
congregation is the education of young ladies of all, but especially, of 
the higher classes of society. It also directs orphan asylums. The 
houses of this congregation also serve as places where persons living 
in the world may spend some days in spiritual retreat. They follow 
the rule of the Society of Jesus. The Faithful Companions of Jesus 
possess an establishment in the dioceses of St. Boniface and St. Albert, 
Manitoba. They are also in England and Ireland. The foundress 
died in 1858. 




SISTERS OF BON SECOURS. 



BOUT the year 1821, certain pious ladies in Paris formed an asso 



l\ ciation for the purpose of nursing the sick at their homes. The 
Archbishop, Mgr. de Quelen, after a sufficient trial, approved of it, and 
gave to them as their Superior the parish-priest of St. Sulpice. On 
January 24, 1824, the Archbishop gave the habit to and received the 
vows of twelve Sisters in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, in the 
church of St. Sulpice, giving to the congregation the title of Bon 
Secours, under the invocation of Our Lady Auxiliatrix. Josephine 
Petit, in religion Sister Mary- Joseph, was appointed Superior- 
General. The congregation soon made rapid progress, although in 
the midst of many privations and in the face of great opposition. The 
Abbe Desjardins, together with Father des Brosses, of the Society of 
Jesus, prepared the rules, which were approved by Mgr. de Quelen. 
The first Superior of the congregation being dead in 1823, a newly 
professed member of the community was appointed to succeed her. 
Her profession had been hastened for the purpose, she being the only 
one whom the Superior, on her deathbed, felt that she could propose 
for the office. 

The Congregation of Bon Secours has spread outside of France, and 
possesses establishments in Ireland and in the United States. It was 
brought to Baltimore by His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, and at pres- 
ent it possesses a community in that city. The Sisters devote them- 
selves to the care of the sick in their houses, going to the poor as well 
as to the wealthy. The author formed their acquaintance some years 
since, being called upon to give them two retreats, and he is able to 
testify to the true religious spirit which animates these good Sisters in 
the performance of the arduous duties imposed upon them by their 
vocation. 




SISTERS OF MERCY OF SEES, FRANCE. 



HIS congregation was founded in 1823, by M. Bazin, a zealous priest 



X of the diocese of Seez, for the purpose of administering to the 
spiritual and temporal needs of the sick, and, especially, of the poor in 
their homes. During the Revolution, he had suffered exile in England, 
and he returned to his country after the concordate between the French 
Government and Pius VII. On the eighth of December, 1823, the five 
first Sisters of the congregation pronounced their vows in presence of 
Mgr. Saussol, Bishop of Seez. They took the name of Sisters of Char- 
ity, which they bore until 1825, when, to be distinguished from the Sisters 
of St. Vincent de Paul, they assumed that of Sisters of Mercy. This 
was the humble beginning of this congregation which, in the midst of 
great poverty, made rapid progress. 

The saintly founder of this institution, after a life of suffering mingled 
with humiliation, which he bore in the spirit of a saint, died the death of 
the just on November 15th, 1855. His congregation has survived him, 
and it increased in numbers, especially as no dowry is required -of 
those who apply for admission. 

These Sisters have foundations in England. 




THE SISTERS OF MERCY. 



MOTHER MC AULEY. — DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGREGATION. — OPPO- 
SITION. — NOVITIATE AT THE PRESENTATION CONVENT. — RELIGIOUS 
VOWS. — THE RULE. — THE SISTERS IN THIS COUNTRY. 

THE foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Kath- 
erine Elizabeth McAuley, was born on the feast of St. Michael, 
Sept. 29th, T787, at Stormanstown House, in the County of Dublin, Ire- 
land. Deprived of her pious father at an early age, she was left to the 
care of her mother, a woman indifferent in the matters of religion. 
Though she paid every attention to the moral training of her children, 
she neglected their religious education, and Katherine was soon brought 
under the fatal influence of Protestants. 

At the age of eleven, she lost that mother, who died full of remorse for 
the neglect of her children. After her mother's death she was for a 
time removed from all Catholic influences. Grace, however, did not 
abandon her, and she finally returned entirely to the faith of her father. 
Having at a later period become an heiress, she founded an institution 
for destitute women, orphans, and poor schools. It was opened on the 
feast of Our Lady of Mercy, Sept. 24th, 1827. Miss McAuley placed 
it in care of Miss Anna Maria Doyle, who was assisted in the schools 
by Miss Kaiherine Byrne. Not one of these young ladies thought of 
founding a religious institute. 

Miss McAuley 's plan was to establish a society of secular ladies, 
who, between the period of leaving school and settling in life, might, 
without inconvenience to their families, spend a few hours daily in in^ 
structing the poor and in other works of charity. Gradually, however, 
hercompanions became Sisters, and hersociety, beyond heranticipation, 
developed into a religious institute, which, with the permission of the 
Archbishop, was styled the Institute of Our Blessed Lady of Mercy, the 
foundress being animated by a tender devotion towards the mother 
of mercy. In 1828, the Archbishop allowed the staff of the institute to 
assume a distinctive dress and to visit the sick. The uniform adopted 
was one of black cashmere, with a deep cape of the same, and a small 
white collar. A lace cap and veil were added, the whole costume being 
similar to that now worn by the postulants of the institute. One of 

577 



578 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS 



the reasons that prompted Miss McAuley to choose for her Religious the 
title of Sisters of Mercy, was her veneration for the Order of St. Peter 
Nolasco, of which we have treated during- the course of this work. 
Like all the works inspired by the Holy Ghost, that of Miss McAulev 
encountered the most serious opposition. After much deliberation, the 
Archbishop decided to allow the Sisters of Mercy to form a distinctive 
institute. It was agreed upon that Miss McAuley, Miss Doyle, and 
Miss Elizabeth Harley should make their novitiate at the Presentation 
Monastery of George's Hill. 

On the second day of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception, 1830, 
the three postulants received the religious habit. On the 12th of De- 
cember 1 83 1, they took the three vows of religion, according to the 
Presentation form, with the promise that the vow of obedience might 
include whatever the Church should subsequently approve for the Or- 
der of Mercy. After their profession, the three Sisters returned to their 
Convent in Baggot St., Dublin. On the 13th of the same month the 
Archbishop, Dr. Murray, canonically appointed Sister Mary Katherine 
Superior. For several years after its foundation, the Order of Mercy 
had no written rule, and yet that was the period of its greatest fervor. 

On January 23d, 1832, some of the ladies who had conducted the 
establishment during Mother McAuley 's absence, were clothed with the 
habit of the new institute. The costume the foundress adopted for 
her order consists of a habit of coarse black serge, or cashmere, falling 
in folds from the throat to the feet in front, and lengthened into a train 
behind. It is confined to the waist by a leathern girdle, or cincture, on 
which the beads and cross of the order are suspended. The sleeves 
are long and wide, falling in plaits from the shoulders, with tight under- 
sleeves. The habit and veil are very ample: the guimp is a deep linen 
collar, worn in front, and the coif, an envelop of the same material, 
covers the head, partly concealing the face. 

The specific objects of the Order of Mercy are the education of the 
poor, the visitation of the sick, and the protection of distressed women 
of good character. The rule and constitutions of the society are 
based on the Rule of St. Augustin as it is practised by the Sisters of 
the Presentation in Ireland. The rule given to her Sisters by Mother 
Katherine, examined by Dr. Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, was ap- 
proved by Pope Gregory XVI. on June 8th, 1841. The Sisters of the 
institute take the three vows of religion, and one by which they oblige 
themselves to serve the sick, the poor, and the ignorant, together with 
a vow of perseverance in the institute. There are two classes of Sis- 
ters : choir and lay-religious. Each separate community is subject 
to the Bishop of the diocese in which it is situated. 



THE SISTERS OF MERCY. 



579 



Mother Katherine governed her community until her death, which 
occurred on November i ith, 1841. She had the satisfaction of behold- 
ing at least forty-three convents of her congregation founded before 
her death. The Sisters of Mercy, possess establishments, besides Ire- 
land, in England, Scotland, Australia, and the United States. 

They were introduced into this country by Bishop O'Connor of 
Pittsburg, about the year 1843. Mother Francis Xavier Warde became 
the Superior of the foundation. Miss Eliza Jane Tiernan, of a wealthy 
family of Pittsburg, soon joined the community, bestowing upon it the 
fortune that had been left her at her father's death. Her life, though 
short, was full of good works. She died in 1848. The Sisters of Mercy 
of Pittsburg established, in 1 846, a branch com munity in Chicago ; in 1 85 1 , 
one at Providence, and, in 1855, another in Baltimore. In 1846, Arch- 
bishop Hughes, of New York, obtained Sisters of Mercy from Dublin 
for his episcopal city, and, in 1855, they founded a house in Brooklyn. 
In 1854 the Sisters in Ireland had, also, established a house in San Fran- 
cisco. The congregation has spread throughout the whole of the 
United States. 



SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE OF MONTREAL. 



IN the year 1828, Madame Emilie Tavernier, widow of M. J. B. 
Gamelin, began, together with several companions, to take charge 
of aged and infirm women, and of the sick poor. The work of this 
pious widow having increased in extent, Mgr. Jgnace Bourget, Bish- 
op of Montreal, established a community canonically in 1844, and the 
foundress became the first Superior. Since that time the Sisters ad- 
ded to their work the care of orphans and the insane, that of aged and 
infirm priests, the instruction of poor young girls, and several other 
works of mercy. 

Besides their foundations in Canada, they undertook, in 1852, a 
foundation in the United States at the invitation of Mgr. Blanchet; 
Bishop of Nesqualy. However, this foundation did not succeed, and 
the good Sisters were obliged to return as they had come, that is, by 
sea, around Cape Horn. They left Oregon on February 1, 1853, and, 
after a brief sojourn at San Francisco, arrived at Valparaiso, Chili, on 
June 17th. The Archbishop of that city, considering their advent as 
providential, urged them to remain in that country, and, together with 
the government, he confided to them the care of the orphans of the city. 
On October 30th, 1853, they were solemnly installed in their new es- 
tablishment. The Archbishop, before celebrating Mass in their chapel, 
thus addressed them: " My dear Sisters, you are truly the Sisters of 
Providence; for it was certainly Divine Providence that conducted you 
hither, where you were longed for, without being known. For a long 
time we ardently desired an institution of charity to take care of the 
poor and the orphans of this large city, and, behold ! suddenly our 
wishes are fulfilled in a truly miraculous manner, and both extremities 
of the New World are about to approach each other, and they are to 
be united by the sweet and strong ties of charity." 

Since then Mgr. Bourget authorized the Sisters of Providence to 
remain in Chili, and found a house dependant on that of Montreal, 
with permission to open a novitiate. 

The Sisters of Providence of Montreal, also, established themselves 
in 1854, in the city of Burlington, at the request of the Right Reverend 
Louis de Goesbriand, Bishop of that city. This was the first establish- 
ment of charity in that diocese. 

During the typhus epidemic of 1847, three Sisters of Providence, to- 
gether with several other religious, fell victims to their charity. 

580 




SISTERS OF THE ASSUMPTION 



LADIES OF THE ASSUMPTION. 



Hp HIS congregation was, founded in Paris, in 1839, by Mademoi- 
| selle Milleret de Bron, in religion Mother Marie Eugenie of 
jesus, under the protection of Mgr. Afire, who was then Vicar- 
General and, afterwards, Archbishop of Paris, and who gloriously end- 
eel his life on the barricades in the Revolution. After becoming Arch- 
bishop he gave the first Sisters the habit on August 14, 1840. It con- 
sists of a violet robe with a white cross on the breast, a white choir- 
mantle, and a veil of the same color. 

The Religious of the Assumption follow the Rule of St. Augustin, 
with special constitutions approved by the Holy See. Their object is 
the adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the education of 
young girls. Their life is both contemplative and active. The choir- 
religious recite the Divine Office of the Church, and all make in the' 
morning a meditation of an hour, and one in the evening of a half 
hour's duration. The school is, as much as possible, separated from 
that portion of the convent occupied by the Sisters, and in the latter 
silence is exactly observed. Poverty is strictly enjoined, a weekly 
chapter is held, and the usages are those of the ancient religious orders. 
Besides the fast days of the Church, they have no other fast except 
on the vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and that of St. Augus- 
tin. Their mother-house is in Paris. They have fourteen other houses 
in France, four in England, two in Italy, four in Spain, and two on the 
foreign missions. 1 
1 Memoir furnished by the Sisters. 



LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR. 



THE ABBE LE PAILLEUX. — HUMBLE BEGINNING. — TRUST IN PROVIDENCE. 
—NEW FOUNDATION. 

T^HE institute of the Little Sisters of the Poor began in the town 
J[ of St. Servan in Brittany. It owed its origin to the Abbe Le 
Pailleux, a priest of the town desirous of doing something for the 
many old people of the neighborhood, who led a life of mendicity and, 
at the same time, of forgetfulness of their religious duties. He grad- 
ually communicated his spirit to two pious young girls of the parish, 
and, almost without their knowledge, trained them to the exercises 
of the religious life. They began by taking care of an old sick woman. 
On the feast of St. Teresa, 1840, they placed her in a small house be- 
longing to a friend who had joined them. They soon after took charge 
of another old woman. In a few months, following the advice of their 
Director, they undertook to beg in behalf of the poor women under 
their charge. They found many charitable hearts ready to assist them, 
but, at the same time, no small amount of ridicule. Although the 
number of Sisters remained for a time stationary, that of patients 
went on increasing, so that it became necessary to look out for a new 
house. In consequence of this they bought a large house, relying for 
its payment upon Divine Providence, which did not fail to come to their 
aid, for, at the end of a year, the house which had cost 22,000 francs 
was entirely paid for. About this time, they received the popular 
name of Little Sisters of the Poor, which they have ever since retained. 

According to their constitutions and their vow of hospitality, the 
Little Sisters are obliged to serve their old people first, and take for 
themselves what remains. It happened, one evening in winter, that 
there was nothing left them but the fourth part of a loaf of bread. 
They sat at the table, recited grace, and, in a joyful mood, sent the 
bread around, from one to another. While they were thus engaged, 
the bell rang and an abundance of bread and meat was brought them 
from the priest's residence. In many other instances they were assist- 
ed by Divine Providence in their necessities. 

However, their house was again filled, the Sisters lodged in the 
garret, and still there were poor people to be attended to. They 
thought of building. They had ground, and half a franc, or ten cents, 

582 



LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR. 



583 



in the treasury. They put the coin at the feet of a statue of the Blessed 
Virgin, and set to work in person, digging the foundations and gather- 
ing materials. The workmen of the town, touched at the sight, 
immediately offered their services, and gifts of money came pouring in. 
Before the work was finished, the number of Sisters began, at last, to 
increase. Thus far they had been only four. As soon as they be- 
held reinforcements arrive, Sister Mary Augustine left for Rennes 
to begin another foundation without any resources. Instead of 
first looking for money, she sought for poor people to take care of. 
They followed the same plan at Dinan in the diocese of St. Brieux, and, 
as elsewhere, gave the best of everything to the poor, taking the worst 
for themselves. 

It was the end of 1846. The new society contained sixteen Sisters 
and three houses. They now contemplated the foundation of the 
fourth one. They arrived at Tours in January, 1847, with a few cen- 
times in their purse. Notwithstanding this extreme poverty, they began 
the foundation, but the hardships they encountered were so great, that 
their health was greatly impaired, and the Superior, Sister Felicity, 
died two years later. At Tours they soon received about twelve 
postulants. About 1849, they established themselves in Paris. Here 
they frequently mingled with the beggars of the city to receive the 
allowance of soup distributed by the Daughters of Charity. After 
this foundation at Paris, the congregation spread throughout well- 
nigh the whole of France. At the invitation of Cardinal Wiseman, 
they established a community in London. Here, as elsewhere, they 
drew upon themselves the respect of all who knew them. 

On July 9th, 1854, the institution was solemnly approved by the 
Holy See, and, we hesitate not to say, that never was a society more 
deservingly approved. 

The congregation has now spread throughout the world. It pos- 
sesses very many houses in the United States. The Mother-Provincial 
resides in Brooklyn. The Little Sistersof the Poor form one of the most 
admirable religious congregations in the Catholic Church. With a 
truly self-sacrificing spirit they have continued to devote themselves 
to a life of mendicity, not in their own behalf, but in that of the unfort- 
unate creatures to whom their lives are consecrated. 



SISTERS OF BON SECOURS OF TROYES. 



T^HE Community of Notre Dame du Bon Secours was established 
X in Troyes, (Aube) France, in 1840, by the Reverend Paul Sebas- 
tien Millet, priest of that diocese. The object of the institute is the 
nursing of the sick in their own homes. The Sisters devote them- 
selves entirely to the care of patients of both sexes, belonging to every 
class, without distinction of creed, and in any kind of disease, whether 
contagious or not. 

Their founder would have no fixed terms for the remuneration of 
their services, leaving to the justice and conscience of those who re- 
ceive the benefit of the Sisters' care to do what they reasonably can, 
according to their station in life and society. 

In 1882, in the month -of May, a branch house of this institute was 
established in New York, under the patronage and to the great satis- 
faction of the late Cardinal McCloskey, who gave full authority to the 
late Father John Daly, S. J., to attend to the establishment of the 
house of this institute in New York. 

The present Archbishop, the Most Rev. Michael Corrigan, has con- 
tinued to interest himself in this work, and, on August 30th, 1888, 
he laid the corner-stone of a chapel for the new home ot the Sisters at 
1 195 Lexington avenue. The community has increased since its in- 
troduction into this country, and it has met with great encouragement 
on the part of the inhabitants of New York, both Catholic and Protest- 
ant. Although it is poor, the Sisters are not allowed to beg, but 
ithey must rely on Divine Providence. 

The Sisters of the Bon Secours of Troyes are entirely different from 
the other community of the same name, of which we have already 
treated. 1 

-i - From a memoir communicated to the author by Sister Eulalie de Barcelona, Su- 
perior of the Sisters of Bon Secours in New York. 



SISTERS OFTHE HOLY FAMILY, AT NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



THE FOUNDERS. — REV. GILBERT RAYMOND. — SPREAD OF THE CONGRE- 
GATION.— GOLDEN JUBILEE.— SERMON OF REV. J. BOGAERTS. 

HP HE Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family was founded 
X in New Orleans, Nov. 21, 1842. The founders were Miss Har- 
riet Delisle, a native of New Orleans; Miss Juliette Gaudin, of Cuba, 
and Miss Alicot, of France. These were later on joined by Miss Joseph- 
ine Charles, of New Orleans, devoting their lives and wealth for the 
welfare of their fellow-beings. 

Like all beginners, these ladies met with many obstacles, trials, and 
tribulations ; but they persevered till the end, and with the approval of 
Most Rev. Archbishop Blanc and the kindly assistance of Very Rev. 
Father Rousselon, then Vicar-General, succeeded as circumstances 
permitted. 

We must consider that the times were not like those of our days, and 
the order progressed but slowly, though the Sisters found many a good 
friend to give them a helping hand. 

They were first established in a little house on Bayou street, where 
they taught catechism, preparing young and old women for first Com- 
munion. In 1848, they took charge of the St. Bernard Home lor old 
and infirm women. A few years later, the house an Bayou Road, be- 
tween Rampart and St. Claude streets, was built; here they received 
new inmates, and continued teaching and preparing candidates for con- 
firmation and first Communion. 

It was after the war that the order received an impetus, and new 
life was given it. Rev. Gilbert Raymond, V. G., took it under his 
protecting hand, and also received the assistance of Archbishop Per* 
che. 

In 1867, to meet the demands, another branch was opened on Char- 
tres street, between Peace and Esplanade. Here the first school was 
established, of which Rev. Mother Josephine was made Superioress, 
Rev. Mother Juliette continuing with the house on Bayou street. 

About 1 870, a house was opened in Opelousas with four Sisters, teach- 
ing boys and girls. ; 

In 1876, they took charge of the orphan asylum at. the corner of 

585 



586 



HISTORY OF RELIGI0U8 ORDERS. 



Tonti and Hospital streets, Sister Ann, one of the old members of the 
congregation, being placed in charge. She is now (1892) at the moth- 
er-house on Orleans street. 

In 1 88 1, a new era dawned for the order. The Sisters secured the 
house on Orleans street, and this seemed to give them new vigor, as 
from this house several others were established, from which they 
spread throughout the country. 

On Sept. 8, 1886, the house in Donaldson ville was opened with Sis- 
ter Veronica in charge. She was, afterwards, removed to the orphan 
asylum on Orleans street. 

The number of Sisters increased, as well as that of pupils, so that 
the Chartre street house was given up, and the community removed 
to Orleans street, now the mother-house. 

When good Father Ra}*mond left the city to go to Opelousas, the 
Sisters, by permission of the Ordinary, secured a worthy successor as 
Spiritual Director, in the person of the Rev. Fr. A. Dufour, S. J., who 
worked with zeal for the good Sisters. He in turn was succeeded by 
Rev. P. De Carriere, S. J., who, in his gentle way, made several im- 
provements. Afterwards he was succeeded by Rev. C. Widman, S. 
J., who gave his earnest attention to the work before him, and ad- 
ded much to its progress. He was followed by Rev. Father Gerlach, 
S. J., who took great interest in the founding of an asylum dedicated 
to St. John Berchmans, on his being transferred to the Church of the 
Holy Name of Jesus, St. Charles avenue. Rev. Father Garbely, S. J., 
was then appointed. He, too, has the work of the Sisters at heart. 

Continuous demands being made on the Sisters to teach boys, they 
opened a boys' school Oct. 16, 1891. The orphans who had occu- 
pied the asylum on Tonti and Hospital streets, were in August, 1892, 
transferred to the new St. John Berchmann asylum, at the corner of Or- 
leans and Bourbon streets, and the old people from St. Bernard asylum 
to the one on Tonti street. 

The St. Bernard house is now used as a school for boys and girls. 
The Sisters conduct a school for boys and girls in St. Maurice's par- 
ish, another in the Cathedral parish, and an academy at the mother- 
house, 17 Orleans street. 

They have charge of two asylums: St. John Berchmans', Orleans 
and Bourbon, and the Home for Aged and Infirm, Tonti and Hospital 
streets ; a convent and school in Opelousas, and another convent and 
school in Donaldsonville. 

The community consists of 49 Sisters: Mother Austin being Su- 
perior, and Mother Ursula, assistant. 

The Sisters follow the Rule of St. Augustin, the novitiate lasting 



SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY, AT NEW ORLEANS, LA. 58? 



two years and six months ; they renew their vows every year, and, 
after ten years' profession, vows are made perpetual. 

It can truly be said that under the protection of Archbishop Jans- 
sens, and the attention of the Jesuit Fathers and clergy, the congrega- 
tion has made giant strides in the work of progress. 

In connection with the convent, we find a very useful society — the 
League of the Sacred Heart, — which materially helps the orphans. 
It is composed of 900 members, divided off into more than 40 bands, 
each having a promoter. 

On Monday, Nov. 21, the Sisters of the Holy Family celebrated the 
golden jubilee of their foundation. There was Solemn High Mass at 
8 o'clock : Very Rev. J. Bogaerts, Vicar-General, celebrant ; Rev. 
Father Chas. Klein, S. J., deacon; Rev. Jos. Thebault, subdeacon. At 
the Gospel the Very Rev. Vicar-General preached the following in- 
teresting sermon, taking for his text: 

"This is the day which the Lord hath made ; let us be glad and rejoice 
therein." (Ps. 117., v. 24.) 

Dear Brethren. — We have met here this morning to duly and fitting- 
ly commemorate an auspicious event which took place fifty years ago, 
— the founding of the religious Sisterhood known in thiscommunity as 
the Sisters of the Holy Family. 

It is scarcely necessary for me to dwell on the numberless blessings 
of- which this foundation was the source and origin. They are visible 
on all sides, and appeal to us in the strongest manner to raise our 
minds and hearts to God in thankful recollection and supplication. 
To Him, as to the originator of all auspicious events, we owe an im- 
mense debt of gratitude for having inspired the founders of this Sister- 
hood with the thought of calling it into existence, for having shielded 
and protected it through the many years during which it had to 
struggle hard for bare existence, and for the glorious consummation of 
even the most sanguine expectations, which are realized in the state of 
spiritual and material prosperity, which the Sisterhood has presently 
attained, at the expiration of the first half century of its existence. 
Eight here, before I dwell on the work which the Sisterhood of the 
Holy Family has done in the past, and is calculated to do in the fu- 
ture, allow me to pay a loving and well-deserved tribute to the memory 
of the gifted and saintly priest, Very Rev. Etienne Rousselon, then 
Vicar-General to Archbishop Blanc, -whose intelligent and charitable 
zeal conceived the first idea of establishing this Sisterhood, and paved 
the way to its foundation in the year 1842. In carrying out his pious 
and charitable design he was ably assisted by four young ladies, one of 
whom not only consecrated herself to the active service of God, 



588 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



but vowed to devote all she had of earthly means to establish an order 
for the education of young ladies of color, and the succor and relief of 
poor helpless old colored people and orphan girls. 

These lour young ladies, natives of this city and descendants of some 
of our most respectable families of color, burning with zeal for the sal- 
vation of souls, commenced by teaching catechism, and preparing col- 
ored girls and women for their first Communion. The names of three 
of these young ladies who witnessed the birth of the Sisterhood, and 
never faltered in their allegiance to it, deserve to be handed down to 
posterity ; they are Miss Harriette Delisle, Miss Juliette Gaudin, and 
Miss Josephine Charles. 

For years they persevered in this arduous work, devoting to it all 
their time, talents, and dowries, doing much good, and promising of 
much more, when organized into a religious community. 

In 1848 they took charge of the asylum for infirm old people. 

On December 3d, 1867, Mother Josephine opened the second house 
in Chartres street, near Esplanade. 

Approved by the Church, they were at last formed into a religious 
congregation, under the name of Sisters of the Holy Family, and are es-: 
pecially devoted to the education of young ladies of color and works 
of charity, such as giving refuge and succor to helpless orphan girls,, 
and infirm, old colored people. 

Blessed in their labors, they have succeeded in establishing their 
mother-house in the spacious brick building (on Orleans, between 
Royal and Bourbon streets) where we are now assembled. Here post- 
ulants are received and formed for the Sisterhood, with the view of 
extending their work of education and charity in every parish of the 
State, and beyond, if possible. In this institute respectable young 
ladies are received, and taught all the rudiments of a refined and Chris- 
tain, education, fitting them for the proper discharge of life's duties in 
whatever situation or employment they may chance to be. In addition 
to this establishment they have also, in the third district of this city, a 
day-school for boys and girls, and an asylum for old, infirm people, and 
are specially charged with their care and maintenance. 

From the city the good work has been extended to various places in 
the country, where the Sisters are actively engaged in spreading the 
good seed of Christian education, and in the practise of works of cor- 
poral and spiritual mercy. Twenty- six years have elapsed since the 
saintly Abbe Rousselon passed to his eternal reward. The tree which 
he planted with such pious care and solicitude, nursed by his prayers 
and strengthened by his teaching, has grown to such proportions as to 
give promise of incalculable advantages to a large portion of the human 



\ 



SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY, 4T NEW ORLEANS, LA. m 



family, and through it to society and to humanity in general. No doubt 
the success which has attended the establishment, extension, and con- 
solidation of the Sisterhood is, in a large measure, due to the continu- 
ous protection and fatherly care bestowed upon it in times past by such, 
eminent churchmen as Archbishops Blanc, Odin, Perche, and Lerav, 
and which the present most worthy incumbent of the archiepiscopal 
See of New Orleans, Archbishop Janssens, continues to bestow upon 
it in an unstinted manner. 

The foregoing condensed recital of facts connected with the origin 
of the Sisterhood leads us to the conclusion : with fifty years of trial 
and probation behind it and victory perched on its banner, well may 
the Sisterhood of the Holy Family take fresh courage on this glorious 
anniversary, and exclaim in the words of the Royal Prophet : " This 
is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein." 
Yes, dear Sisters, give full scope to the sentiments of joy and gratitude 
to God which now, very justly, too, well up in your hearts. God's 
power and mercy and the continuous assistance and protection which 
He has granted you, have enabled you to reach the present day in the 
history of your Sisterhood. It is thus truly the day which the Lord 
hath made. To Him, therefore, give glory, thanking Him for all the 
blessings and graces showered upon your congregation during the 
first fifty years of its existence. Thank Him, not only for the spiritual 
consolations and blessings which you have enjoyed whilst members of 
the community, but also for the trials wmich you may individually 
or collectively have been subjected to. For just as gold is purified and 
tested by fire, so is every work of God tested by crosses and tribula- 
tions. The same God, however, who permits the trial to come on, also 
gives the necessary grace to overcome it, and thus He is glorified by 
both : the trial and the victory over it, for both are the work of His 
hands. 

Dear Sisters, we who are present on this festive occasion, associate 
ourselves to your joy and thanksgiving. During the holy sacrifice of 
the Mass, which is about to be resumed, we will mingle our prayers 
with yours, and beseech the Almighty that He may vouchsafe to con- 
tinue to grant you His special care and blessing, that He may grant to 
all and every one of you the grace to live up to your holy vocation, 
that He may bless and assist all the works of religion and charity now 
under your charge, or in which you may be engaged in the future. 
Yes, we will ask of Him that the number of active members of the 
Sisterhood, and their efficiency, may be increased from year to year, 
and that to those already in the congregation may be granted the 
grace of perseverance unto death — in order that, at the termination 



590 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of this earthly life, you may hear from the lips of your heavenly spouse 
the consoling invitation : Veni sponsa mea, veni coronaberis — Come, my 
spouse, and receive a crown of eternal glory." 

At the Communion all the Sisters received first; then followed the 
school-girls, League of the Sacred Heart, orphans, and many of the 
faithful. 

In the sanctuary were Very Rev. Monsignore Celestin Frain, of Our 
Lady of the Sacred Heart Church; Very Rev. Canon Mignot and Rev. 
Fr. Beronnet, of the Cathedral; Rev. C. Bournigalle, chaplain of the 
Ursulines; Rev. L. P. Thevis, of the Holy Trinity; Rev. E. Aveilhe, of 
St. Maurice's; Rev. J. Gerlach, S. J., and Rev. Father Lemeure. 

The choir and organ were presided over by the Sisters, whose good 
voices added much to. the imposing ceremony. 

The altar was ablaze with lighted candles, and beautifully adorned 
with natural flowers and handsome candelabras. In the sanctuary 
were orange-trees: foliage and potted plants adding beauty to the oc- 
casion. Over the altar and stretching entirely across the chapel were 
garlands of evergreen intermixed with roses. 

The altars of the Holy Family, St. Rita, and St. John Berchmans 
were profusely illuminated. In one corner of the sanctuary was the 
papal flag, whilst the hallway leading to the chapel was most artis- 
tically decorated with American flags, and on either side were grace- 
fully suspended pictures of Archbishop Francis Janssens, Very Rev. 
Father Rousselon, Rev. Mother Juliette, and Rev. Mother Josephine, 
all festooned with national colors. The children of the institution pre- 
sented a neat appearance, and all entered into the joy of the day's cele- 
bration. After the Mass the Sisters received their friends and well 
wishers. 

During the day they were also the recipients of marks of affection and 
esteem from friends, and congratulatory letters from bishops and clergy 
who were prevented from being present on the occasion. 

In the afternoon the children gave a musicale to the Sisters, and, as 
a matter course, it was a general holiday, long to be remembered by 
all those fortunate enough to be present. 1 

1 Data furnished by the Sisters of the Holy Family, New Orleans, La. 



NOTRE DAME DE SION. 

ON January 20th, 1842, Alphonse Ratisbonne was miraculously con- 
verted in Rome from Judaism to Christianity. His greatest desire 
was to render the rest of his nation participants of the same grace. 
He wrote to his brother Theodore in Paris, who had for some years 
been a Catholic, and who was then sub-director of the Archconfraternity 
of Our Lady of Victories, requesting him to obtain a house for the 
education of Jewish children. The request appeared strange, but the 
missionary to whom the letter had been addressed, turning to the 
Blessed Virgin, prayed to her in the following terms: " If thou, O 
Mary, dost desire this work, and hast inspired this thought, let me 
know it by a sign ; send me, without delay, a child, only one child of 
Israel, and this will be for me and to my eyes a sign of thy approbation! " 

On that very day he received a letter from the Superior of the Laz- 
arists informing him that a Jewish lady, being dangerously ill, desired, 
before her death, to confide her two young daughters to the care of 
Christians. Ratisbonne visited the dying woman; she renounced Juda- 
ism, she was baptized and, a few days later, she died a. Christian. 
About the same time several other persons embraced Christianity. 
The greatest number of the young children were provisionally placed 
in the house of Providence, directed by the Sisters of Charity of St. 
Vincent de Paul. 

In June, 1842, Ratisbonne, the sub-director of the Archconfraternity, 
went to Rome and begged of Gregory XVI. the mission to work at 
the conversion of the Israelites. The Sovereign Pontiff acquiesced in 
the petition, giving his blessing to the missionary. In May of the fol- 
lowing year several pious persons, having felt themselves called to 
work at the salvation of the Jews, gathered around them the converts 
of that nation, and laid the foundations of a new institute. The prac- 
tices of the religious life were gradually introduced among the mem- 
bers of this society, and the institute was placed under the protection 
of the Blessed Virgin, the immaculate lily of Israel, under the title of 
Our Lady of Sion. The martyred Archbishop, Mgr. AfTre, whose re- 
mains now lie in Notre Dame of Paris, and his successor, Mgr. Sibour, 
gave the greatest encouragement to the new congregation. On Jan- 
uary 15, 1847, His Holiness, Pius IX., addressed them a Brief by which 

691 



592 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



he granted them numerous indulgences, as well as to the faithful who 
would contribute to the success of the work. The good done by this 
new congregation in bringing about the conversion of numerous chil- 
dren of Israel was incalculable. 

The different houses of this congregation are governed by a Superi- 
or-General. At present it possesses a foundation in the ancient cap- 
ital of the Jewish nation, in Jerusalem. These Sisters are also in Eng- 
land, in the diocese of Westminster. We hope that the day is not far 
distant when our country will also possess them. 

A community of missionary priests of Our Lady of Sion was organ- 
ized at Paris in 1863. 




SISTERS OF THE NAMES OF JESUS AND MARY, OF 

MONTREAL. 

IN 1843, a congregation was founded in the diocese of Montreal, Can- 
ada, with the special object of teaching girls in country places. It 
was the work of these pious young women, Eulalie Durocher, in relig. 
ion, Sister Marie-Rose ; Melodie Dufrene, Sister Mary- Agnes; Henriette 
Lere, Sister Mary Magdalen. On December 8th, 1844, the three found- 
resses were admitted to take the vows, and the congregation was ca- 
nonically erected. The mother-house was established at Longueil. At 
present the congregation possesses about 500 professed members. Be- 
sides the diocese of Montreal, the congregation also possesses houses 
in those of St. Hyacinth and London, Canada ; and in Manitoba. It 
.has fifteen houses in the United States. 



DAUGHTERS OF ST. ANN. 



^pHIS community was established in 1848 at Vaudretril, Canada, 
X with the permission of the Bishop of Montreal. In 1850, five Sis- 
ters made their profession. MademoiselleMarie-Esther Surean-Blond- 
in, in religion Sister Mary Ann, was the first Superior. The end ot 
the institute is the instruction of little girls, the care of the infirm, and 
the visit of the sick at their homes. In 1853 the mother-house was 
transferred to St. Jacques d 'Achigan. Though poor in the goods o£ 
this world, the religious of this community have, nevertheless, suc- 
ceeded in doing much for the good of souls with the encouragement 
of the Bishops and the clergy of Canada. 



CONGREGATION OF THE ADORATION OF 
REPARATION. 

THIS congregation was established in Paris in 1848, with the inten- 
tion of repairing the injuries done to the Divine Majesty by the 
many sins committed in the world. The privilege was granted to it 
of having the Blessed Sacrament constantly exposed. This congrega- 
tion consists of the regular community, the secular Sisters, and the as- 
sociates. The Tabernacle Society, having as object the promotion of 
the splendor of God's house, by assisting poor churches is also aggre- 
gated to this congregation. Several branches of the Tabernacle Soci- 
ety exist in the United States. It was founded by Mgr. de La Bouill- 
erie. 



SISTERS OF MERCY, OF MONTREAL. 

THESE Sisters, who are also called Sisters of St. Pelagia and Sisters 
of the Maternity, have as the object of their institute that of as- 
sisting women in labor, both rich and poor, but especially the latter. 
They either receive them in their institutions, or visit them at their 
homes. The congregation was canonically established by Mgr. Bour- 
get in 1848. They have erected in Montreal a magnificent edifice called 
the House of the Maternity. A person presenting herself at this in- 
stitution is received without any questions being asked, and all pre- 
cautions are used to save her honor, and, above all, to prevent the crime 
of infanticide. In the spirit of charity the Sisters endeavor especially 
to cure the wounds inflicted upon the soul of the unfortunate creature. 

The foundress of the congregation was Madame Rosalie Jette, in 
religion, Mother Mary of the Nativity. She declined to accept the 
office of Superior, and Sister St. Jane de Chantal was the incumbent of 
this office. The institution was approved by Pius IX. on June 7th, 1867. 
The congregation is governed by a Mother-General, who is elected 
every six years. The Sisters also conduct Magdalen asylums for pen- 
itent women. They were introduced into New York in 1887 by Rev. 
J. Mc Quirk, D.D. 

The New York Mothers' Home of the Sisters of Misericorde was 
incorporated on November 23, 1888. 

In receiving patients, no discrimination is made in regard to religion, 
color, nationality, or place of residence. 

After their convalescence, those who desire to remain in the Home 
are placed under the charge of a special Sister, and are known as "con- 
secrated." They follow a certain rule of life, but contract no religious 
obligation, so that they are always free to leave the house when they 
like. Should they desire to remain in the convent, and if they show the 
proper dispositions, after a period of probation they are allowed to 
become " Magdalens," and after a long time of trial, they are per- 
mitted to make the vows of the " Magdalen Order." To complete 
this work of charity, three different sections in a large building are 
necessary: a section for the Sisters, a second for the Maternity, a 
third for the Magdalens. For this purpose the New York Mothers' 
Home of the Sisters of Misericorde, located at 106 West 123d Street, 

595 



596 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



has bought the large house, 531 East 86th Street, for the sum of 
$31,000. 

It contains thirty rooms, and is every way desirable for the present 
purposes of the institution. 

From September, 1887, to February, 1889, 125 inmates were admit- 
ted gratis ; none were refused. This Home has been and will be pre- 
eminently the home of the poor and unfortunate. 

The Sisters have no funds nor income for their Home. They de- 
pend entirely on private subscriptions, either associations of ladies, or 
■donations. 

We read as follows in the annual report for 1892 of the New York 
.Mothers' Home : 

"Our Fifth Annual Report gives us a favorable opportunity of ex- 
pressing our gratitude to all our friends and benefactors for favors 
bestowed on us during the past year. Their generosity furnished us 
the means of accomplishing our work on a little larger scale, and al- 
though we have not been able to do all the good that we were called 
upon to do, still the results of our labor and future prospects are more 
encouraging than in the past. 

" Our experience has, however, fully convinced us of the necessity 
■of larger buildings, in order to accommodate, as we desire, all the poor 
and unfortunate who call on us for aid and shelter. Although our 
debt was already $38,000, and the new construction would entail an 
additional expenditure of $80,000, nevertheless, after mature delibera- 
tion, following the advice of our Reverend Archbishop and Ecclesias- 
tical Superior and the kind encouragement of charitable friends, we 
decided on undertaking what a short time ago seemed utterly impos- 
sible. Confiding in Divine Providence, who has never yet failed us, 
the work of the new building was begun last May, and is now well ad- 
vanced. Before the end of the year we hope to be able to receive 
about a hundred more patients. 

" Part of the money required for this purpose has been borrowed 
from the Emigrants' Industrial Savings Bank ; for the rest we count on 
the charity of the benevolent public, e.ver ready to patronize all good 
works. 

"Our friends may be somewhat surprised at the comparatively small 
item of our yearly expenditures. This fact is easily understood when 
we make known that nearly all the service of the Hospital is per- 
formed gratis, so that very little is expended for salaries." 

There are moralists who would blame a work of charity approved 
by the Church and practised by various religious congregations in- 
Catholic countries, and elsewhere, a work of charity tending to save 



SISTERS OF MERCY OF MONTREAL. 



597 



innumerable souls from perdition, while they have not a word of re- 
proof for that pharisaical sanctimoniousness which, stigmatizing the 
consequence of the crime, rather than the crime itself, drives a host 
of unfortunate girls to a hell in this life, and a hell in the other. In con- 
nection with this, we cannot refrain from citing the following sentences 
of an author : 

u It seems to me very questionable whether that essentially feminine 
sentiment which affixes upon illegitimate motherhood of a young girl 
the stigma of irreparable infamy, does not, in the majority of cases, 
accomplish more evil than good. It may be well to teach innocence 
the exceeding sinfulness of sin; yet even here there is a tendency to 
evil consequences just so far as we overstep exact truth. To assert that 
by maternity out of marriage, the character and nature of a young girl is 
infected with pollution; that if a housemaid she is henceforth unfit to care 
for children, and for the sake of example and in the name of virtue, should 
be turned forthwith, and without warning, upon the streets, as the piti- 
less law of England to-day permits, this is not merely false, but the un- 
derlying sentiment that inspires such action is both inexpedient and 
unjust. Is it maternity that destroys the purity of womanhood, or 
the lapse which precedes maternity ? For one, I refuse to believe that 
we ever can make virtue seem more lovely by the merciless punishment 

of that consequence, which alone more than half condones the sin 

" Nor is it expedient, because w r henever the extreme penalty of os- 
tracism is mercilesslv inflicted, we create a yet greater evil than the 
one it is sought to condemn. Between that first child of the young 
country girl, and those depths of sin, to which the painted hetaire of 
the pavement has fallen, is an almost immeasurable ab} 7 ss. Yet it 
needs but a step to reach that lower level ; a step over a precipice. 
That Christian woman, who, deaf to all entreaty, turns her maid into 
the streets because about to become a mother, may fancy she is only 
upholding the dignity of virtue; but she is also opening to her sister 
woman the gates of hell. She has created that despair which pushes 
its victims into a chasm, wherein thousands of her sisters annually fall. 
Prostitution is the final resource of illegitimate maternity; and more 
than one Fantine sells her soul on the streets of London to keep her 
child alive. 

"But even this is not the lowest depth. She who pushes her sister 
towards despair helps to create in her soul the temptation to escape 
all ignominy by infanticide. We do not need the genius of Scott, of 
Goethe, of George Eliot to tell us that in our Christian civilization a 
mother can do, what the old Hebrew thought almost impossible, "for- 
get her sucking child." Even the criminal records give us but a hint 



598 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of the awful evil that in reality exists. There is no danger more ter- 
rible than this; for in the soul of a woman who has lost the instinct of 
maternal love there is indeed a ruin beyond repair. 

" I hope it may not be wholly an idle dream that, at some period in 
the development of Christian charity and civilization, a point may be 
reached where she who is about to become a mother of an unwelcome 
child. . . .will find somewhere a sure refuge; meeting there neither a 
blind sympathy that hastens too quickly to condone, nor yet an un- 
pitying virtue that scorns forgiveness and invites to despair. In her 
sad extremity, perchance then she may be encouraged by woman's 
heart and helped by womanly hands not to evade the responsibilities 
of motherhood, but to meet them so bravely, to fulfil them so consci- 
entiously, that in time even the stain of her dishonor shall fade away, 
and her transgressions, through duty well performed, find forgiveness 
and expiation." 1 

Did not the author know when he wrote the last sentences, that his 
dream had long since been realized in the Catholic Church, and that 
the solicitude of that tender mother stretches itself even to the unfort- 
unate offspring of vice; and the guilty causes of its existence? We 
have cited his sentiments, as they so much coincided with our own. 

1 Illegitimacy and the Influence of Seasons upon Conduct, by Albert Leffingwell, M. 

D., pp. 82-85. 




LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART OF MARY. 



1^ HIS congregation was established by the Rev. John Gailhac, at 
Beziers in the diocese of Montpellier in Languedoc. Shortly 
after his ordination in 1832, seeing the dangers to which young girls 
of the poorer classes were exposed, he gathered together a number of 
them, and, assisted by the offerings of charitable ladies, purchased a 
house, in which he placed them under the charge of Sisters. 

It was not, however, until several years later, that he was enabled 
to carry out his pious project of founding a congregation. A widow? 
Madame Cure, who, for some time, had been under his spiritual guid- 
ance, placed herself and her means at his disposal. With a few other 
ladies, she began a community life, and took charge of the orphanage 
on February 24, 1849. The following year, they opened a boarding- 
school for young ladies. 

Divine Providence having sent them several Irish subjects, they 
were soon enabled to found houses in the British Isles. At present 
the congregation possesses two houses in Ireland: one at Lisburn, near 
Belfast, the other near Waterford. It has one house in England at 
Seafield, near Liverpool. Portugal counts four houses, namely, those 
of Oporto, Braga, Chaves, and one near Coimbra. In the spring of 
1877, six Sisters came to the United States and opened a boarding- 
school for young ladies at Sag Harbor, Long Island. 

The convent of Beziers is the mother-house, and there all subjects 
who desire to join the order must make their novitiate, which lasts 
about two years. At the end of this period, temporary vows are made, 
and, at the expiration of five years, the professed novices are admitted 
to their final vows. 

In all important matters, such as the establishment of new founda- 
tions, recourse must be had to Rome. The rules of the congregation 
have received three approbations, one from Pius IX. and the two others 
from His Holiness, Leo XIII. 

Madame Cure, the first Mother-General of the congregation, died 
on March 1st, 1869. The founder lived to the advanced age of eighty- 
seven, and departed this life on January 25th, 1890. The present 
Mother-General is the only survivor of the little band who formed the 
nucleus of the Institute of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Virgin Immac- 
ulate. 1 

1 From data furnished by the Mother Superior of Sag Harbor, L. I. 

599 



SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 



r P HIS congregation owes its origin to Paulina von Mallinckrodt, 
sister of the distinguished German statesman and champion of 
Catholicity, the late Hermann von Mallinckrodt. It was founded at 
Paderborn in Westphalia on November 4th, 1850. The rules of this 
new institute were approved by the Holy See in 1867. Its progress 
was wonderful, and, within a few years, it counted its members by 
hundreds, while its houses were to be found everywhere in Germany. 
Its principal object is the education of youth by the conducting of 
schools. When, in T870, the persecution of religious orders broke out 
in Germany, the Sisters of this congregation were included in the de- 
cree of expulsion as being affiliated to the Jesuits, as the government sup- 
posed. They now took refuge in the United States, and Mother Pauline 
herself crossed the Atlantic in 1873 and established a new mother-house 
in Wilkesbarre, Penn. The zealous founder, Paulina von Mallinckrodt, 
died on April 30th, 1881. Her mortal remains repose in St. Conrad's 
Chapel in Paderborn. Her work has survived her, and it is now in a 
prosperous condition. The congregation possesses foundations in 
Belgium, Bohemia, Chili, and especially in this our country, where it 
has upward of fifty houses. 



SISTERS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD. 



MGR. PRINCE. — MGR. LA ROCQUE. — NEW FOUNDATIONS. — BROOKLYN. 

TOWARD the year 1852 our Lord was pleased to inspire the pure 
and ardent spirit of a young girl, living at St. Hyacinth, in Low- 
er Canada, with the belief that she was called by Him to found a Re- 
ligious Community of Adoration and Reparation, to the honor and 
glory of the most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ; it was al- 
so His good pleasure that the reality of this inspiration should be test- 
ed by that " patient waiting " which serves so well as spiritual crucible 
to consume all that is not gold in our pious desires. The project of a 
Monastery of the Precious Blood was considered for several years be- 
fore being put into execution: the spiritual directors of the fervent soul 
who had conceived the design, were in favor of its realization, but. dis- 
posed to retard it. That Mgr. Prince, the first bishop of St. Hyacinth, 
had the good cause at heart, he proved by the erection of the Confra- 
ternity of the Precious Blood in his Cathedral City, and by the words 
uttered on his death-bed : " The will that I make in favor of my dio- 
cese is the devotion to the Precious Blood. " It belonged to Mgr. 
Joseph La Rocque, successor to Mgr, Prince, to put the pious will of 
his predecessor into happy execution ; he laid the foundations of the 
new Institute on the 14th of September, 1861, and placed before the 
four fervent souls, who offered themselves as the first victims of rep- 
aration, the spirit of their vocation, which by dint of prayer and med- 
itation, had developed itself in his mind. Their especial arms were to 
be the constant worship and invocation of the most Precious Blood of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, homage paid to Mary Immaculate, and ardent 
adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar; they were 
to give themselves to be made victims, and to offer perpetually to the 
Eternal Father, in union with their sufferings, the merits of the Blood 
of Jesus, in order to obtain the conversion of sinners. Adoration, Sac- 
rifice, Reparation — these words resume the vocation of the religious of 
the Precious Blood. The blessing of Divine Providence was with 
them at their beginning, even as it is to-day, so that in the year 1866, 
the work had sufficiently prospered to induce their devoted founder, 
Mgr. La Rocque, to approve the congregation, by virtue of his epis- 

601 



602 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



copal authority. It was ordained that the closing years on earth of 
this zealous man should be devoted to the perfect organization of his 
institute. Obliged by ill-health to resign the administration of his dio- 
cese, shortly after the foundation of the community, he retired to the 
Monastery of the Precious Blood, where he lived to the end of his life, 
devoting himself with untiring zeal to the welfare of his spiritual daugh- 
ters. With the cooperation of Mother Catherine, the foundress, and 
that of him who, from her childhood, had been her spiritual director, 
Mgr. J. S. Raymond, Bishop La Rocque composed the constitutions 
of the community, and the " Treatise on Devotion to the Precious 
Blood," as well as several volumes of meditations on the same theme. 
The forms of devotion in present use in the community, as well as cer- 
tain customs, such as that of the aspiration : " Vive le Sang de Jesus," 1 
placed over the doorways, originated with Caspar del Bufalo and his 
missioners. 

The revered founder of the devotion in America, having been forti- 
fied by the Blood of Jesus to sanctify the sufferings of twenty years* 
passed peacefully to a better life on the 18th day of November, 1887. 
He had lived to see four Monasteries of the Precious Blood in Canada: 
at St. Hyacinth, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. The last five years 
have given birth to three more foundations: one at Three Rivers, and 
two in the United States, one of which was made in Brooklyn, New 
York, on the 30th of April, 1890, the other in Portland, Oregon, on 
the 6th of January, 1892. 

The Confraternity of the Precious Blood is spreading throughout 
our country, where already it numbers about one hundred and fifty 
thousand members. In the United States, no less than in Canada, the 
devotion is daily making itself better known, and better loved. 

The two foundations in the United States have been singularly 
blessed in all their undertakings. At Portland, Oregon, the year that 
has elapsed since the founding of the mission of " The Sisters of the 
Precious Blood "(1892) has seen the erection of a large Monastery, a 
wooden structure, but monastic in all its details, of which the building 
expenses are completely defrayed. The community consists of twelve 
Sisters, who are at present employed in painting the interior of their 
house, as well as fulfilling such orders for the making of church vest- 
ments, altar-linen, etc., as may be given them. They are hoping and 
expecting very shortly, when all shall be in perfect readiness, to open 
their novitiate. At Brooklyn, New York, the three years' old founda- 
tion may be said to have matured a solid work for the greater glory 
of the Redemptive Blood. Under the escort of the revered Mother 

1 Live the Blood of Jesus. 



SI STEMS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD. 



003 



Foundress of the Institute, five Sisters left the mother-house at St. Hya- 
cinth on the 26th day of November, 1889, to arrive in Brooklyn before 
the completion of the small convent in Sumpter street, which was being; 
built for them through the charity of Mr. John McGarrv, a well-known 
and esteemed citizen. The Sisters passed the winter of 1 889-90 in a very 
small house beside the Monastery, where they received from the good 
Catholics of Brooklyn many visits, much alms, and numerous gifts, 
such as provisions and other things. On the 30th of April, 1890, the 
feast of St. Catherine of Sienna, first patroness of the Institute, the new 
convent being then habitable, the installation of the Sisters took place, 
and Mother St. Gertrude was constituted Superior of the community. 
The Right Rev. Bishop of the diocese celebrated Holy Mass, and preach- 
ed on the occasion of the opening. Much of the charity and benevolence 
henceforth shown toward the Sisters was, no doubt, partly, at least, 
the fruit of the kindly recommendation of their work to his priests 
and people, and of the invariably favorable dispositions manifested 
toward the Sisters by the chief pastor of the diocese. The tiny chapel 
within the new Monastery had its doors ever open to the worshipper of 
the Precious Blood, and, when some special function was to take place in 
it, the Sisters would vacate their choir in favor of their visitors. Friends 
and benefactors increased rapidly in number. The novitiate was opened 
on the 14th of September, 1890. Many ladies living in the world have 
recourse to the convent for a few days of spiritual retreat, and constant 
application was made for the objects of pious art painted by the Sisters. 
Divine Providence so blessed the work entered upon for the glory 
of the Most Precious Blood, that it became advisable either to add to 
the actual convent, or to remove to one of larger dimensions. The 
question was already under discussion when the little old church of 
St. Francis, in the fields, was left vacant by the sudden death of its 
pastor, the Rev Father Bailies, O. S. B. The Sisters were advised to 
purchase it. Their devoted chaplain and excellent friend, the Rev. 
Father Porcile, a member ol the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy, 
and pastor of the Church of St. Francis of Sales, devoted himself to 
the accomplishment of this object. He obtained the consent of the late 
Bishop Loughlin, only a few days before his death, smoothed away 
various difficulties, and he was, in many ways, instrumental in the 
removal of the Sisters from Sumpter St. to 212 Putnam avenue, where, 
on the 2 1 st of April, 1892, in the old building which was to serve the 
Sisters, as it had served the Benedictine Fathers for both church and 
dwelling-house, a second Monastery of the Precious Blood re- 
placed the first. This change of place has involved heavy responsibil- 
ities upon the community. Through labor, both of head and hand, not 



604 HIS TOE Y OF RELIG10 US ORDERS. 

that of teaching, which is prohibited by the rule of the Institute, nor by 
begging, to which the Sisters do not resort, but with such timely aid as 
may be offered them, the price of the building lots, and added to it that 
of a new construction of absolute necessity, is to be paid. God, in His 
goodness, blesses the means employed to liquidate the heavy debt, 
and the Sisters cannot but feel that the blessing of the Lord rests upon 
them. The worthy successor of Bishop Loughlin, Rt. Rev. Bishop Mc- 
Donnell, shows himself no less kindly disposed toward the community 
than his late predecessor, and through a good word from him, orders 
for the making of Church vestments are frequently received. On 
the part ol the majority of the Rev. Clergy, much charity has been 
manifested; the number of friends and benefactors has greatly increased, 
and that of the members of the community could well have doubled 
and trebled itself had the present accommodations been adequate to the 
applications made for admission. 

The Sisters are of the contemplative order. Their Rule exacts an in- 
closure, which is under the control of the Bishop of the diocese. They 
aim at being self-supporting, but practise no good works which would 
be contrary to the spirit of their Constitutions. About seven hours a 
day are devoted to prayer, by which they make the oft-repeated offer- 
ing by the merits of the Most Precious Blood for the deliverance of 
Holy Church, the conversion of sinners, and the relief of the souls in 
Purgatory. They also pay an especial homage to Our Lady of the 
Immaculate Conception. Mary Immaculate is their model in their daily 
practice of virtue, and on Mary Immaculate they constantly call, implor- 
ing her to offer for their intentions the Blood of her Divine Son. 1 

1 Memoir forwarded to the author by the Sisters of the Precious Blood, 212 Putnam 
avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



SISTERS OF SAINT BRlGID, OR OF THE HOLY FAITH. 

'HP HIS congregation was founded in 1857 by Cardinal Cullen, Arch- 
ie bishop of Dublin, with the object of conducting schools for poor 
girls and little boys. They do an important work in protecting the 
poor of Dublin from the attempts to destroy their faith made by the 
Irish Church Mission Society and other Protestant bodies. 



PART IX. 



CONGREGATIONS WITHOUT THE THREE VOWS. 



HIS congregation is the most ancient of all those belonging to the 



X present category. Some authors ascribe its origin to St. Beggha 
who died at the end of the seventh century, but others maintain that 
it was founded by Lambert the Stammerer, (Le Begue), a saintly man 
of the city of Liege, who died in 1 1 77. He waged an energetic wa_r 
against the prevailing vice of simony, and endured much persecution 
on account of his zeal. Helyot inclines to the opinion that he founded 
the Institute of the Beguins, which became very numerous. The In- 
stitute was proscribed by the Council of Vienne in 11 13, on account 
ot the errors in faith of many of its members. A clause, however, per- 
mitted those women who had not erred to continue living in com- 
munity, either with or without vows. This preserved the institution 
from utter ruin, the faithful communities not having been included in 
the edict of condemnation. John XXII., explaining the prohibition, 
took them under Ms protection. 

The Sisters of this congregation, after a novitiate of three years, 
receive the habit and take the simple vows of obedience and chastity 
before the parish-priest. The vows are conditional, that is, they are 
only binding as long as the person who takes them remains in the 
community,, The Beguinage is under the jurisdiction of the parish- 
priest, and it is governed by a Prioress without whose permission the 
Sisters are not permitted to leave the enclosure^ They are generally 
clad in black. Each Sister has her own house within the enclosure of 
the Beguinage. Several large communities of Beguins still exist in 
Belgium, and there is a small one at Amsterdam in Holland. 



THE BEGUINS. 




ORATORIANS. 



ST. PHILIP NERL— CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.— CONFER- 
ENCES.— CHURCH OF THE FLORENTINES.— SANTA MARIA IN VALLI- 
CELLA.— NEW HOUSES.— DEATH OF ST. PHILIP.— LATER HISTORY.— 
CARDINAL NEWMAN. — ORATORIANS IN ENGLAND. 

THE history of religious institutions in the Church is marked 
throughout by grand epochs which impress upon it new features, 
or characteristics. Thus the ancient life of the solitaries of Egypt 
and Palestine acquires a fuller development and greater uniformity in 
the rule of St. Basil, monasticism reaches its most perfect organization 
in the Benedictine Order, and a new departure is taken by the great 
founders, Saints Dominic and Francis. The sixteenth century is char- 
acterized by the foundation of the Regular Clerics, prominent among 
whom the Institute of St. Ignatius stands out in bold relief. Simul- 
taneously with the institutions of Cajetan, Ignatius, and others, there 
arose in the Church a new mode of life which forms a period in the 
history of the religious state. From the days of St. Benedict, the 
vows formed, as it were, the essence of all communities in which the 
exercises of the religious life were practised. Congregations were 
now to arise of which the members were to live as religious without 
being bound as religious. It was St. Philip de Neri who inaugurated 
this movement. 

The saint was born in Florence on July 22d, 1 5 1 5 , and his child- 
hood was spent in great innocence. At the age of eighteen he was 
sent to a rich uncle in the little town of San Germano, at the 
foot of Monte Casino. Although his uncle intended to make him his 
heir, St. Philip, who desired nothing but to serve God, abandoned these 
earthly prospects and went to Rome to finish his studies. Here he 
first served as tutor for two children of a noble Florentine who sup- 
ported him, while he applied himself diligently to the study ol phil- 
osophy and theology. Many snares were laid for his virtue, but the 
saint always eluded them by prayer and vigilance. One of the favor- 
ite exercises of St. Philip was the daily visit of the seven basilicas of 
Rome, while he employed a portion of his nights in praying on the tombs 
of the martyrs in the cemetery of St. Callixtus. He was not alone in 

607 



608 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



these practices of piety, for his example was soon followed by others, 
.and he made use of this means to draw many young men from a dis- 
orderly life. Encouraged by his successes, and desirous of doing more 
for the salvation of souls, he founded, together with Persiano Rosa, 
his confessor, the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity, which they es- 
tablished in the Church of San Salvatore in Campo in 1548. Its first 
members were poor persons, who assembled on the first Sunday of 
every month to follow the prescribed exercises of piety. Gradually 
others, and, among them, persons of distinction, entered the society. 
With the aid of these, the saint succeeded in executing a cherished 
idea, that of founding an asylum or hospital for the numerous pilgrims 
who were wont to visit Rome. 

In obedience to the wishes of his confessor, St. Philip finally con- 
sented to become a priest. He was ordained as such on May 23d, 
1 5 5 1 . A short time after this event, he took up his abode at the 
•Church of San Girolamo de la Carita with the intention of spending 
there the remainder of his life. In this abode the saint began his 
spiritual conferences, and devoted himself with the greatest zeal to the 
hearing of the confessions of all classes of persons. The number of those 
who assisted at his conferences was at first small, but it gradually in- 
creased and, finally, included several persons of distinction. He felt 
a desire to go to the Indies to carry the light of the Gospel, but the 
advice of the Prior of the monastery of Tre Fontane, of the Order of 
Citeaux, and a vision he had, persuaded hirn that God desired that he 
should remain in Rome. In 1558, having arranged a spacious room 
above the church in the form of an oratory, he transferred thither his 
exercises. He now associated to himself in giving his conferences, 
Francesco Maria Tarrugi and Giovanni Battista Modio, who were still 
laymen and, sometime afterwards, Antonio Succi and the famous Bar- 
onius. 

His oratory was always opened in the evening at six in Summer, and 
five in Winter. On Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays they 
made a half hour's meditation, after which they recited the Litany of the 
Blessed Virgin. On the other days of the week, they took the discipline. 
While the brethren were gathering, a spiritual reading was held by 
one of those present, and the president then interrogated two or three 
on the subject of the reading. Ecclesiastical history formed one of 
the principal matters of discussion. The saint distributed some of 
his disciples into three bands to visit the sick in the hospitals. At cer- 
tain times of the year, especially during the Carnival, he assembled as 
many people as possible to visit the churches of Rome. This practice 
introduced by St. Philip has continued to the present day. Of course, 



OB A TORIANS. 



G0!> 



as always, there were persons who murmured at this new practice of 
piety, so much so that complaints were brought to the Cardinal-Vicar, 
who, having summoned the saint, treated him with the utmost severity. 
This humiliation he bore in the spirit of the saints. God, however, 
placed the sanctity of His servant in a clearer light, and he was allow- 
ed to continue his exercises without further molestation. By order of 
Pius IV., St. Philip, about the year 1564, took charge of the Church of 
the Florentines, to which he sent several of his disciples, among whom 
was Baronius. It is from this period that dates the establishment of 
the congregation which now forms our subject. It took the name of 
the' Oratory on account of the oratory which the saint had established 
at the Church of San Girolamo della Carita. In 1574, St. Philip trans- 
ferred his exercises entirely to the Church of the Florentines. Here he 
lived with his disciples in perfect harmony. The offices of the house 
were distributed among the members of the community, each one 
taking his turn in reading at the table, serving in the kitchen, or in 
other domestic functions. 

In 1575, St. Philip and his disciples obtained possession of the 
Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Here they built a large and 
beautiful edifice in which they commenced to celebrate the Divine 
Offices in 1577, which obtained the name of the Chiesa Nuova, and to 
which the Oratory of the Church of the Florentines was transferred, 
with the approbation of Gregory XIII. The saint here modified his 
method hitherto followed in the exercises, for, instead of the con- 
ferences, a spiritual reading was held which was followed bv four 
sermons. There were now two communities of Oratorians, oneatthe 
Florentines, and the other at Santa Maria della Vallicella. The mem- 
bers of the latter community chose St. Philip for their Superior, al- 
though he continued to reside at the Florentines until 1583, when, at 
the request of his disciples and in obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff, 
he removed his residence to the Vallicella, whither, according to a de- 
cree of his congregation, the remaining members at the Florentines 
followed in 1588, so that they were all united at the Chiesa Nuova. 
Two years before this, in 1586, Tarruggi had founded two establish- 
ments, one in Naples and the other in Milan; the latter, however, did 
not long exist, as the Archbishop of that city, St. Charles, and St. Philip 
could not reach a complete understanding on all points. In the same 
year an Oratory was founded at San-Severino, and others were estab- 
lished at Fermo and Palermo. The Fathers of the Oratory of Rome, 
seeing that their institute was being multiplied, decreed that no houses 
outside of Rome should be dependant upon them, except those of 
Naples and San-Severino. They added a decree that it would be allowed 



€10 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



to send members of the Roman Oratory to found houses elsewhere, on 
condition that they should return after the accomplishment of their 
mission, and that the houses thus established should not be united to 
the Oratory in Rome. It was also permitted to receive priests from 
elsewhere that they might be taught the customs of the congregation 
in order to found establishments in their own country. In 1598, they 
made an exception in favor of the house of Lanciano in Abruzze. 
The Fathers of the latter house directed a seminary for the education 
of young eccelesiastics. 

It was a rule that the Superior of the congregation should remain in 
office only three or, at most, six years, but, in 1587, St. Philip was 
elected Superior for his lifetime. This was done in consideration of 
the holy Founder, though it was decreed that his successors should 
hold the office only for three years. They were, nevertheless, allowed 
to be continued for three years longer. After the death of the saint, 
in 1 596, this rule was again modified, and it was decreed that the Super- 
ior might be continued in office as long as it seemed beneficial to the 
congregation. The saint made it an inviolable rule of his institute 
that no vows should be taken, nor was any one allowed to propose in 
the congregation that vows should be introduced. Those members 
who did not give edification, were to be dismissed. 

About three years before his death, the holy Founder, desirous of 
leading a more retired life, renounced his office of Superior, in which 
he was succeeded by the celebrated Baronius, author of the Ecclesi- 
astical Annals. This renowned man, as well as two other members of 
the congregation, Tarruggi and Alphonsus Visconti, were promoted to 
the Cardinalate by Clement VIII. 

The last years' of the life of the saint were spent in continual ex- 
ercises of piety. He continued to say Mass until the last day of his 
life, on which he also heard confessions and gave the Holy Communion 
to several persons. He died on May 25, 1595. He was canonized in 
1622 by Pope Gregory XV. 

After the death of the saint, several houses of the Oratory were 
founded in various cities of Italy and other countries. The church at 
which St. Philip died and in which he is buried, that of Santa Maria 
della Vallicella, is still in possession of the Fathers of his congregation. 

In this century the renowned Doctor, afterwards Cardinal Newman, 
having embraced the institute of the Oratory at Rome in the house of 
the Vallicella, brought it over to England, where oratories were estab- 
lished at Birmingham and at London. It was in the former that this 
great Cardinal ended his life. 

When Doctor Newman arrived in England as an Oratorian he found 



OR A TORI A NS. 611 

there Frederick William Faber, an old acquaintance, and a recent con- 
vert from Anglicanism, who with some friends, had formed a species 
of community in Birmingham. They afterwards settled at Cotton 
Hall, near Alton, taking the name of the " Brothers of the Will of 
God," or " Wilfridians." Some time later Faber and his community 
deciding to join Dr. Newman, they were formally received asOrator- 
ians. Faber writes thus of this occasion: "Father Superior has now 
left us all in our Philippine habits, with turn-down collars, like so 
many good boys brought in after dinner. In the solemn admission 
he gave us a most wonderful address, full of those marvellous pauses. 
He showed how, in his case and ours, St. Philip seemed to have laid 
hands upon us, whether we would or not. I hardly know what to do 
with myself for very happiness." Faber made his novitiate under 
Newman, and in July, 1848, his novitiate ending by dispensation, he 
became Novice-Master at Cotton Hall, at which place all the Orator- 
ians in England were soon gathered. This community was in 1849 
divided into two, of Birmingham namely, and of London. Father Faber 
became the Superior of the latter, while Dr. Newman directed the 
former. 

In 1850, the London community was released from its obedience to 
that of Birmingham. In the Birmingham Oratory at Edgbaston,Dr. 
Newman lived for thirty-eight years, with the exception of the short in- 
terval spent by him in Dublin as Rector of the Irish Catholic Univer- 
sity. In 1859, a school was established at the Oratory in Birmingham. 

A visitor to Edgbaston, Mr. C. Kegan Paul, gives the following ac- 
count of the routine followed by the members of the community: 

"Each Father has his own comfortable room, library, and bedroom in 
one, the bed within a screen, the crucifix above, and the prized per- 
sonal little fittings on the walls. The library is full of valuable 
books, many of them once the private property of Dr. Newman, now 
forming the nucleus of a stately collection for the use of the commun- 
ity. The quiet men who share this home come and go about their 
several businesses, — the care of the school, whose buildings join, but 
are separate from the Oratory proper, the work in the church, in hear- 
ing confessions, saying Masses and preaching. In the house the long 
soutane and biretta are worn; to go abroad they wear the usual dress 
of the clergy in England. Perhaps it is the dinner hour, and the silent 
figures pass along the galleries to the refectory, a lofty room with 
many small tables, and a pulpit at one end opposite the tables. At 
one of these sits the Superior alone, clad like the rest, save the red lines 
of his biretta, which mark his Cardinal's rank. But among his chil- 
dren and in his home, he is still more the Superior and the Father than 



612 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



a Prince of the Church. At a table near him may perhaps be a guest, 
and at others the members of the community, two and two. The 
meal is served by two of the Fathers, who take this office in turn; and 
it is only of late that Dr. Newman has himself ceased to take his part 
in this brotherly office, owing to his advanced years. During the 
meal a novice reads from the pulpit a chapter of the Bible, then a short 
passage from the life of St. Philip Neri, and then from some book, relig- 
ious or secular, of general interest. The silence is otherwise unbroken 
saveforthe words needful in serving the meal. Towards the end one of 
the Fathers proposes two questions for discussion, or rather utterance of 
opinion. On one day there was a point of Biblical criticism proposed, 
and one of ecclesiastical etiquette ( if the word may be allowed ); 
whether, if a priest, called in haste to administer Extreme Unction, did 
so inadvertently with the sacred oil set apart for another purpose, in- 
stead of that for Unction, the act was gravely irregular. Each gave 
his opinion on one or other of these questions, the Cardinal on the first 
gravely, and in well-chosen words. Yet it seemed to the observer 
that, while he, no doubt, recognized that such a point must be decid- 
ed and might have its importance, there was a certain impatience in 
the manner in which he passed by the ritual question and fastened on 
that proposed from scripture. After this short religious exercise, the 
company passed into another room for a frugal dessert and glass of 
wine, since the day chanced to be a feast; and there was much to re- 
mind an Oxford man of an Oxford Commonroom, the excellent talk 
sometimes to be heard there, and the dignified unbending for a while 
from serious thought." 1 

In 1879, John Henry Newman was elected to the dignity of Car- 
dinal. He lived a few years longer and died on August 1 1, 1890, leav- 
ing the recollection of one of the brightest English scholars of his age. 

While in Rome, we had the happiness of praying at the tomb of St- 
Philip Neri in the church of Santa Maria della Vallicella. We also 
visited the adjoining house, where the disciples of the saint still walk 
on his footsteps, and we conversed with his successor in the modest 
apartments he occupies. The humble and fatherly priest gave us sev- 
eral copies of the rules of the oratory. There, too, we beheld the chap- 
el where the celebrated Cardinal Newman had been admitted into 
the congregation. 
1 John Henry Newman, by Wilfrid Meynell. 



ORATORIANS OF JESUS IN FRANCE. 

THE French Oratory was modelled on that of St. Philip Neri in 
| Rome. Its founder, Pierre de Berulle, was born on February 4th, 
1575. After a youth spent in the exercise of piety and in the pursuit 
of knowledge, he became a priest in 1599. Af ter his ordination, be- 
lieving that it was the will of God that he should remain in the secu- 
lar clergy, though he had, at various intervals, experienced the desire 
of becoming a religious, he gave himself up to the works of zeal. He 
introduced into France the Discalced Carmelites, among whom his 
own mother took the habit. In 161 1 he undertook to execute a desire 
he had long cherished, that of establishing a congregation of the Ora- 
tory. For this purpose he assembled together a number of ecclesiastics 
in the Faubourg St. Jacques in Paris. In 161 3, Pope Paul V. approved 
this congregation under the title of the Oratory of Jesus, and ap- 
pointed M. de Berulle first Superior-General. The object of the found- 
er was to raise the ecclesiastical spirit from the lethargic state into 
which the disorders of the times had caused it to fall. In 1627, M. de 
Berulle was made Cardinal by Pope Urban VIII., the Holy Father 
having obliged him to accept this dignity, which made no difference in 
his conduct, he still preserving his wonted simplicity. Cardinal de 
Berulle ended his saintly life on October 2d, 1629. His institute 
made great progress after his death, and obtained foundations not only 
in France, but also in the Netherlands, and in Savoy. After his death 
it was decreed that there should never be question of vows within the 
congregation, which was to be governed by a Superior-General, al- 
though the supreme power was vested in the general assemblies of the 
congregation. 

During the eighteenth century, the congregation unfortunately fell 
into bad repute, on account of the Jansenistic spirit with which so many 
of its members were animated. When the French Revolution broke 
out, the better portion of the Oratorians remained faithful to the Church, 
though others were carried along by the current. At all events, this 
famous congregation ceased to exist. 



ORATORY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



" "N 1852, M. Petetot, parish-priest of the Church of St. Roch in Paris, 
together with several other priests, established this congregation. 
The famous Father Gratry was one of its members. This new con- 
gregation adopted the rule and the exterior form of the former French 
Oratory, with the changes rendered necessary by circumstances. 
These Fathers apply themselves with zeal to the work of preaching the 
Word of God, and the composition of works forthe defence of the Cath- 
olic Faith. 



CONGREGATION OF THE PIOUS WORKERS. 



CHARLES CARAFFA A JESUIT.— LEAVES THE SOCIETY. — CONVERSION, — 
APOSTOLIC LABORS. — RULES. 

FATHER Charles Caraffa, founder of this congregation, a descend- 
ant of the dukes of Atri and the counts of Ruro, belonged to the 
illustrious house of his name, which has given to the Church several 
Popes, Cardinals, Prelates, and, among other distinguished personages 
to the world at large, a General to the Society of Jesus. He was born 
in the year 1561, and at the age of sixteen he became a Jesuit. After 
remaining five years in the Society, his constant ill-health forced him to 
leave it. For some time after this he wore the clerical habit, but he 
finally abandoned the ecclesiastical state, to enter the army. In this 
new career, forgetting the lessons of virtue he had learned among the 
Jesuits, he abandoned himself to a life of licentiousness. He might 
have spent his life in this miserable condition had not the eye of a 
merciful Providence rested upon him. Going on a certain day to- 
ward the royal palace in Naples, and passing before the monastery of 
Rcgina Cceli, he stopped in order to listen to the chant of a nun. This 
was the means God made use of to touch his heart. His eyes were 
opened ; he wept over his sins, and from that day he was a changed 
man. He began the study of philosophy and theology at the age of 
thirty-four, and, after five years, he was raised to the priesthood. He 
celebrated his first Mass on the first day of the year 1600. After this 
event his life became a constant exercise of charity and zeal, combined 
with the greatest austerities. Cardinal Giesualdo, beholding the 
abundance of fruit produced by the works of this saintly man, attached 
him to the church of Santa Maria di Tutti i Beni. Several ecclesias- 
tics who were under his spiritual guidance left their homes to live with 
him and aid him in his apostolic labors. The archbishop sanctioned 
this, and permitted Caraffa to receive priests and laymen desirous of 
joining him. Though he had no intention of founding a congrega- 
tion, but only that of devoting himself to the work of the missions, to- 
gether with his companions, nevertheless the foundations of a special 
institute had been laid. 

In 1601 Caraffa opened his church, and, with eight priests, he began 

615 



616 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



to labor at his neighbors' salvation. Many were the trials of this 
saintly man. He was misrepresented at Rome ; he had to leave the 
church which had been given to him, and most of his disciples aban- 
doned him. But he kept up his courage, rented a house, and continued 
his work with three companions, who had remained faithful. Some 
time after, his perseverance was rewarded by new accessions to his 
community, among whom were several subjects of distinguished merit. 
This enabled him to establish several houses of his congregation. He 
obtained for it the approbation of Gregory XV. by a Brief of 162 1. It 
received the title of Congregation of the Pious Workers. The saintly 
founder, after a life of great merit, spent in works of zeal, went to his 
eternal home on September 8th, 1633. 

After his death the congregation was again confirmed by Pope Ur- 
ban VIII. The members of the congregation, which remained limited 
in numbers, take no vows. It is governed by a General and four Con- 
suitors, who are elected for three years, and who may be continued in 
office by the general chapter, which meets every year. Each house is 
governed by a Rector. The members practise great poverty and aus- 
terity, and accuse themselves of their faults before the Superiors sev- 
eral times a week. They recite Matins at two in the morning. 

Saint Alphonsus appears to have held the memory of Father Charles 
Caraffa in great esteem, and we feel inclined to believe that he copied 
the institute of the Pious Workers in several points when preparing 
the rules of his own congregation. 



THE EUDISTS. 



PERE EUDES AN ORATORIAN. — FOUNDS HIS CONGREGATION. — MISSIONS.-— 
OPPOSITION. — FRENCH REVOLUTION. — RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 

FATHER 'Eudes de Mezerai, founder of this congregation, was 
born near Argentan, in Normandy, on December 14th, 1601. He 
made a vow of chastity at the age of fourteen, and joined the congre- 
gation at the Jesuit college of Caen, where he made his studies. Hav- 
ing decided to embrace the ecclesiastical state, he entered, at the age of 
twenty-three, the Congregation of the Oratory, founded in France by 
the Cardinal de Berulle. Having been ordained priest, he celebrated 
his first Mass on Christmas day, 1626. He immediately began to de- 
vote himself with great zeal to the works of the ministry. The pesti- 
lence having broken out in the diocese of Seez, he went thither, with 
the permission of his Superiors, to succor those stricken by it. After 
the cessation of the epidemic, he returned to Paris, whence he was sent 
to Caen. He soon became Superior of the Oratory in that city, and be- 
gan to devote himself to the preaching of the word of God and the giv- 
ing of missions. On these missions he recognized the necessity of good 
and zealous priests to preserve the fruits of the exercises, and he be- 
gan to contemplate the foundation of seminaries for the purpose. Hav- 
ing consulted enlightened persons on the matter, he decided to leave 
the Congregation of the Oratory, after having been ten years in it, in 
order to devote himself to the work to which he felt himself inspired. 

Having taken the step, he began to labor at the foundation of a sem- 
inary in the city of Caen. Eight other priests joined him, and he thus 
laid the foundations of his new institute. They had much contradic- 
tion to meet with, which they overcame by silence, meekness, and pa- 
tience. At the request of several bishops, Father Eudes sent his disci- 
ples to found seminaries in various other dioceses. These different com- 
munities were authorized by the bishops and the civil government, and 
they formed one society, under the government of Father Eudes, and 
with the title of Society of Jesus and Mary. 

A second end of the institute of Father Eudes was that of giving 
missions, and the founder himself labored most assiduously at this work. 

617 



618 



HISTORY OF RE LI G 10 US ORDERS. 



To guide others on the missions, he composed two works ; one enti- 
tled The Good Confessor, and the other The Apostolic Preacher. 

In 1645 Father Eudes founded the order of Daughters of Our Lady 
of Charity, of which we have already treated. It was his last great 
work for the glory of God, for having seen it consolidated and approved 
by the Holy See, he breathed his last at Caen, on August 19th, 1680. 

The Eudists take no vows ; like the Oratorians, they are bound to- 
gether only by the band of charity. Each one is at liberty to leave 
the congregation, although nearly all those who have been incor- 
porated into it, Father Helyot tells us, remain in it all their lives. 
Their habit is nearly the same as that of other ecclesiastics of the secu- 
lar clergy. It is a custom among them to distribute their personal rev- 
enues in good works, and they hold themselves bound to obey the 
Superiors of their congregation as though they had taken the vow of 
obedience. The congregation possesses a twofold object: that of form- 
ing postulants for the sacerdotal ministry, and that of giving missions 
in the country. Though governed by a Superior-General, the congre- 
gation is entirely under episcopal jurisdiction. 

This congregation encountered much opposition on the part of 
the French Oratorians, w.ho were hurt at Father Eudes leaving them, 
and who, perhaps, were jealous on account of the success of the Eu- 
dists. The latter, unlike their brethren of the Oratory, preserved 
themselves free from the widespread contamination of the Jansenist 
heresy. The saintly lives of more than one of its members were a 
source of great glory for the congregation of the Eudists. Several of 
its members were massacred during the French Revolution, and among 
them, M. Hebert, Superior of the house of Paris. 

While the Reign of Terror lasted, the Eudists, exiled in England, 
awaited patiently the dawn of peace. After the Revolution they re- 
turned to France, and they were dispersed as professors among var- 
ious seminaries. In 1 826 the survivors resolved to reorganize the com- 
munity at Rennes, and they elected Father Blanchard as their Superior. 

During his life Father Eudes had hoped in vain to obtain the appro- 
bation of the Holy See for his institute. The opposition of the Ora- 
torians of France and of other religious bodies had always prevented 
the realization of this desire. The Eudists, during the eighteenth cen- 
tury, had never been able to obtain more than a partial approval of 
their congregation. In the nineteenth century the}' have been more 
fortunate, and since the year 185 1 they have been solemnly approved 
by the Holy See. The two men who contributed greatly towards this 
successful issue were the General of the congregation, Father Gau- 
daire, and Mgr. Poirier, then Vicar- General of Trinidad, and after- 



THE EUDI8TS. 



019 



wards Bishop of Roseau, on the island of Dominica. We remember 
with pleasure having seen this venerable prelate, who conferred upon 
us the Sacrament of Confirmation. He was a member of the congre- 
gation of the Eudists, and the immediate predecessor of the present 
bishop of Roseau, the Right Reverend Bishop M. Naughten. 



OBLATES OF ST. AMBROSE AND ST. CHARLES. 



ST. CHARLES BORROMEO. — RULES. — FREDERICK BORROMEO. — CARDINAL 
MANNING.— VISIT TO MILAN. — PRIESTS OF ST. IRENAEUS. 

r pHIS congregation owes its origin to St. Charles Borromeo, Arch- 
ie bishop of Milan, and Cardinal. The saint was born on October 
2d, 1538, of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret de Medicis. On 
the last day of January, 1560, he was created Cardinal by his uncle, 
Pope Paul IV., and, on the eighth of February following, the Pope named 
him Archbishop of Milan. The great work of the holy Archbishop 
was the reformation of the clergy, for which he spared no pains. The 
congregation of the Oratory not having succeeded in his archiepis- 
copal city, and feeling the necessity of being assisted by zealous ecclesi- 
astics, he formed the design of establishing a congregation of secular 
priests, of whom he would be able to dispose for all the needs of his 
diocese. For this purpose he made choice of certain ecclesiastics who 
were inclined to the work, and of others who offered their services 
to him. He gave to them the title of Oblates, because they had of- 
fered themselves voluntarily, and he placed the congregation under the 
protection of the Blessed Virgin and St. Ambrose. The commence- 
ment of this institute dates from the 16th of August, 1578. It was ap- 
proved by Pope Gregory XIII., who granted to it various spiritual 
favors. The saint gave to these fathers the Church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, which has remained in their possession until the present day. St. 
Charles himself drew up the rules for his society, the most important 
of which was that they should take a vow of obedience to the Arch- 
bishop of Milan as to their Superior. Those who desired to bind them- 
selves by the vow of poverty were allowed to do so. It was also the 
desire of St. Charles that the Fathers of the congregation should per- 
form in their church the daily exercises followed by the priests of the 
Oratory in Rome. Some of the Fathers lived in community, while 
others were dispersed throughout the diocese in various occupations 
for the good of souls. Lay-persons living in the world were also as- 
sociated to the congregation. 

The great St. Charles Borromeo ended his saintly life on Novem- 
ber 3d, 1584. He was canonized by Paul V., on November 1st, 1610. 
His cousin and successor, Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, had the con- 

620 



OBLATES OF ST. AMBROSE AND ST. CHARLES. 



G21 



stitutions of the Oblates of St. Ambrose printed. The congregation 
has subsisted down to our own times, 

It was Cardinal Newman who introduced the Oratorians of St. Phil- 
ip Neri into England. Another celebrated English Cardinal, the late 
Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, in imitation of 
St. Charles Borromeo, founded a congregation of priests in that dio- 
cese, under the title of the Oblates of St. Charles, giving to them the 
rules made for the Oblates of St. Ambrose of Milan, who, after the can- 
onization of their holy founder, had added to the name they bore al- 
ready that of the saint to whom they owe their existence. 

The rule for the Oblates of St. Charles in England was drawn up by 
Dr. Manning in 1856, and in the following year he established the 
mother-house of St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater. There he resid- 
ed until he became Archbishop. His successor, Cardinal Vaughan, was 
one of the first members of the community. 

It was a bleak and drear}^ afternoon when we arrived at Milan. The 
aspect of nature reminded us so much of the countries of the North, 
and formed a striking contrast with bright and sunny Naples, that we 
had left only a few days before. There the farmer was busily engaged 
on the fields, which still teemed with vegetation under the warming 
rays of an almost tropical sun. Here the leaves were falling from the 
trees, while the upper slopes of the distant Alps were covered with 
snow. Ever since leaving Venice, in the morning, a gloomy fog had pre- 
vailed, which gave a melancholy aspect to thesurrounding country. But 
we had not come to Milan to admire nature; there was another thought 
uppermost in our mind. It was the third of November, the eve of the 
feast of the great St. Charles. Before us stood the grand marble cathe- 
dral, the very edifice in which the saintly Cardinal Borromeo was wont 
to celebrate pontifical Mass. At a few steps distance is the archiepisco- 
pal palace, witness of so many heroic virtues, where the curtainfell upon 
the saintly life of our holy patron. But there was a treat in store 
for us. We had come to Milan at the right time. Down in the 
crypt beneath the high altar, there is an object which attracts uni- 
versal attention. To the crypt Ave descend. The soft strains of music 
break upon our ears from the grand old cathedral above us. Solemn Ves- 
pers, the first Vespers of the feast of St. Charles, are about to be chanted 
according to the venerable Ambrosian rite. But heedless of the pres- 
ent, we think only of the past; and behold ! a sacred relic of the past lies 
there before us. We pass around it; we see what we never shall forget. 
Yes! there is all that is mortal of the great Cardinal and Archbish- 
op of Milan. It is the body of St. Charles, clad in pontifical vestments, 
as it lay there centuries ago, when the hand of death was first laid up- 



622 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



on it. We had desired to offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass up- 
on the altar beside it, but alas ! our time was short; we could not wait un- 
til the hour when the altar would be free, for there were too many priests 
before us. Neither could we say Mass in the cathedral, where the Ara- 
brosian rite is alone permitted. As a compensation for this we chose 
the Church of St. Charles, and the next day, before the beautiful statue 
representing the saint in the act of giving Holy Communion to St 
Aloysius, we offered up the divine sacrifice. After Mass we visited 
the archiepiscopal palace. It was with the deepest sentiments of rev- 
erence that we ascended the spacious staircase, as we thought of those 
days of long ago, when the saintly scion of the house of Borromeo as- 
cended and descended them. With the deepest interest we beheld the 
spot where an unfortunate man had had the temerity of attempting 
to take the saint's life. Far above the magnificent halls of the palace 
there is an humble apartment, the chapel of St. Charles, which once 
was witness of his silent communings with God, — a blessed spot, where 
we were permitted to bend the knee. 

On the evening before, we had visited the Oblates of St. Ambrose 
in the Via Magenta, and we were delighted in making the acquaintance 
of the sons of St. Charles, who gave to us a copy of their rules. 

Cardinal Manning was not the only prelate who imitated St. Charles 
in establishing Oblates; other bishops have followed the same example. 
Thus the Society of Priests of St. Irenaeus at Lyons is modelled on that 
of Milan, and the Society of Children of Mary Immaculate, or Oblates 
of St. Hilary, at Lucon, has also been founded with the same spirit, al- 
though in the latter the three vows of religion are taken. 



BARTHOLEMITES; OR, SECULAR CLERICS OF THE 

COMMON LIFE. 



BARTHOLOMEW Holzhauser, born in 1613, in the diocese of Augs- 
burg, was the founder of this congregation. Having been or_ 
dained priest about the year 1639, he soon after began his institute in 
company with several priests, at Salzburg. Their object was to lead 
a life of perfection in conformity with their sacerdotal vocation. The 
institute was approved by the Holy See in 1680. They took upon 
themselves the direction of seminaries, and they were also devoted to 
the work of the ministry. They bound themselves by oath not to leave 
the congregation of their own accord. They were allowed to have 
three kinds of houses in each province; one for the education of youth- 
ful clerics, another which was to serve as a place of residence for those 
who were engaged in the ministry, and tbe third, which was destined 
for those who by age or infirmity were incapacitated for work. For 
each of these classes there were special constitutions. Their rules were 
systematic, and well adapted to their mode of life. The General of 
the congregation bore the title of first President, and he was subject 
to the Holy See, while the inferior Superiors of the congregation were 
also dependant on the ordinaries of dioceses. 

This congregation found much favor with the bishops of Southern 
Germany, and spread also in Hungary, Poland, and Spain. About the 
end of the seventeenth century it began to decline, and gradually dis- 
appeared. King Louis I. of Bavaria revived it, or at least a similar 
institute, in his kingdom. 1 
1 Ernst V. Bertouch — Kurzgefasste Geschichte, etc. 



THE SULPICIANS. 



MOlier, the founder of the Congregation of St. Sulpice, was born 
• in Paris on September 20th, 1608. Though his parents had des- 
tined him for an ecclesiastical career, his lively character and fiery 
temper made them doubt whether this were his vocation ; but St. Fran- 
cis de Sales assured them on this point, foretelling that the child would 
one day be an instrument of God's glory. Having finished his studies, 
he was ordained priest about the year 1633. Even before that period 
he had begun to labor assiduously for the salvation of souls, but, after 
his ordination, he devoted himself with increased zeal to the work of 
the missions. More than once he refused the episcopal dignity. 

At the suggestion of various enlightened persons, especially of M. 
Charles de Condren, Superior-General of the Oratory, and after much 
prayer, M. Olier laid, in 1642, the foundations of a community for the 
direction of a seminary at Vaugirard, whence he soon after moved, 
with his companions, to Paris, where he became parish-priest of the 
Church of St. Sulpice. He labored zealously at the reformation of 
this parish, where he found innumerable disorders, and he succeeded 
in establishing his seminary. Besides the seminary of Paris, he also 
labored at the establishment of others at Nantes, Viviers, Puy in Velais, 
and Clermont in Auvergne. Towards the end of his life he took great 
interest in the colony of Montreal, in Canada, for which he destined 
several of his disciples. He had at one time cherished himself the de- 
sire of going to that distant mission. M. Olier died on April 2d, 1657. 
The congregation he had founded took the name of its first and prin- 
cipal establishment, that of St. Sulpice in Paris. After his death his 
disciples founded other seminaries in France, and some of them, ac- 
cording to his intentions, went over to Canada, where they acquired 
great influence. The Superior-General of the congregation has ever 
since resided at St. Sulpice. Among all religious institutions of mod- 
ern times, that of St. Sulpice stands forth as one which has inviolably 
preserved its original spirit. Though bound by no vows, the Sulpic- 
ians may serve as models of regularity to the most regular communi- 
ties. 

The members of this congregation form, we may say, the oldest reg- 
ular community in the United States. They were introduced into this 

624 



THE SULPICIANS. 



G25 



country by Bishop Carroll. On a visit to England he came to an 
agreement with M. Emery, the Superior of St. Sulpice, through M. 
Nagot, the assistant of the latter, who had been sent to London, to the 
effect that two or three members of the Society should come over to 
Baltimore. The wise Superior had foreseen the storm which was 
about to burst over France, and he determined to seek a refuge, to pre- 
vent the entire ruin of the society. The Sulpicians destined for America, 
Messrs. Nagot, Levadoux,Tessier, and Gamier, embarked for the United 
States on April 8th, 1790. One of their travelling companions was 
the famous Chateaubriand. They reached Baltimore after a voyage 
of three months. They at once began a seminary. Their work in this 
country has prospered, and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore stands 
as a monument to their zeal. Innumerable priests in the various dio- 
ceses of the United States have received their ecclesiastical education 
from these devoted men. At the present time the Sulpicians direct 
the theological seminary, and St. Charles College, in the diocese of 
Baltimore, and the seminary of Brighton, in that of Boston. They have 
also the spiritual direction of the clerical students in the Catholic Uni- 
versity at Washington. 

While the Sulpicians were obtaining a strong foothold in the United 
States, the French Revolution was destroying the congregation in 
France. All its members had refused to take the oath. The conse- 
quence was that they were dispersed. Many of them went over to 
America, where they greatly aided the rising Church across the Atlan. 
tic. The society was resurrected in France after the Revolution under 
the auspices of M. Emery, its energetic Superior. 



CONGREGATION OF FATHER PALLOTTI. 



N April 21st, 1755, was born at Rome, Vincent Pallotti, destined by 



\J God to become the founder of a new religious institution. His 
piety was so great, that, after his first Communion, he continued to ap- 
proach the table of the Lord by a daily reception of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. Moreover, at that tender age, he practised many austerities, 
such as fasting and the discipline. He at first experienced great diffi- 
culties in his studies, but, after a novena to the Holy Ghost, his intel- 
lect seemed suddenly to awaken, and he made rapid progress. At the 
age of fifteen, he felt a great desire to become a religious in the order 
of Capuchins, but his confessor and spiritual director dissuaded him 
from taking such a step, believing that he would not be able to support 
the austerities of that order. 

He followed the courses of the Roman college until his first year of 
philosophy, in 18 14. He then studied Greek and philosophy at the 
Sapienza, where he obtained the degree of master in 18 16. At the age 
o± twenty-one he graduated as doctor in philosophy, and, in 18 18, he re- 
ceived the degree of doctor of theology. He had been ordained priest 
a short time before obtaining the latter degree, on May 16, 181 8. From 
this day his zeal knew no bounds, and many were the good works in 
Rome, on which he bent his energies, living the life of a saint, and deny- 
ing himself all but the necessaries of life. Having become rector of the 
Church of the Holy Ghost for the Neapolitans, he founded a society, to 
which*he gave the name of the Catholic Apostolate, and persons of all 
classes became its members. Its object was the propagation of faith 
and piety throughout the whole world. Its name was afterwards 
changed by Gregory XVI. to that of Pious Union, under the invocation 
of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Immaculate Queen of the Apostles. 
Some of the members of this association were to form a special society, 
and lead the life of communitv. These the founder united in the 
monastery of San Salvatore in onda given to him by Gregory XVI. 

In 1844, Father Pallotti sent priests of his congregation to England. 
A few years later he had consummated his course. After a long and 
active life, spent entirely in the service of God and his neighbor, this 
saint of the nineteenth century went to his reward on January 20th, 
1850. 




C2G 



CONGREGATION OF FATHER PALLOTTL 



627 



The Sovereign Pontiffs, Gregory XVI. and Pius IX., granted many 
and singular favors to the institution of Father Pallotti, rendering 
it participant of the spiritual treasures of religious orders and secular 
confraternities, and of the privileges of regulars. It bears the title 
of Pious Society of the Missions. Its object is to revive faith and 
charity among Catholics, and to bring infidel and heretical nations to 
the faith of Christ. Its end is, consequently, one of an immense mag- 
nitude. It is divided into two portions : collegial and collective. The 
first consists of secular ecclesiastics living in community without being 
bound by vows, but following a common rule, the one written by the 
saintly founder. These constitute the central and motive power of the 
society. To the second belong ecclesiastics, and religious, as well as 
lay people of both sexes, who offer themselves spontaneously to work 
in concert with the central body. All persons, even those belonging to 
religious orders with solemn vows, may .become members of this society. 
The latter portion of the society consists of three classes : the workers, 
the spiritual cooperators, and the contributors. The workers are reg- 
ular and secular priests who, with the priests of the central body, devote 
themselves to the works of the ministry and lay persons who, under 
their direction, fulfil the works of the apostolate. The spiritual cooper- 
ators are those who aid the pious society b}^ their prayers. The con- 
tributors render assistance by material means, their talents, their influ- 
ence, their profession, and their fortune. The members of the association 
contract no obligation whatever, all their actions being spontaneous and 
voluntary. They work together under the protection of the Immaculate 
Virgin, Queen of the Apostles, the immediate dependence on the Holy 
See, and submission to the ordinaries of dioceses. The residence of the 
Rector-General of the society is at the Church of the Holy Saviour in 
Onda. The Fathers of this society serve the Church of Our Lady of 
Mount Carmel in New York. 



THE PAU LISTS. 



ISAAC T. HECKER. — CONVERSION.— THE REDEMPTORISTS.— LEAVING THE 
CONGREGATION. — A NEW SOCIETY. — DEVELOPMENT.— APOSTOLIC 
LABORS. 

THIS congregation is entirly American in its origin, as well as in its 
character. The founder, Isaac Thomas Hecker, was of German 
Protestant ancestry, and born in New York on December 18, 1819. 
Though he enjoyed very little of that which goes to make up an edu- 
cation, according to the accepted meaning of the word, he was, from 
boyhood, given to serious reflection, and of marked originality. A 
Protestant, and surrounded by Protestant influence, he seems notwith- 
standing to have kept his soul pure, and those who knew him best believe 
that deliberate mortal sin never found its way into his heart. From 
his early youth, Hecker was deeply inclined to ponder over the great 
questions of philosophy which have agitated the profoundest intellects, 
and the acquaintance which he formed with Dr. Brownson in 1834, must 
have greatly strengthened this inclination. In the practical theories of 
ethics, he inclined toward the working classes, against monopolies. 
His was a mind of strong convictions. 

In 1843, Hecker joined the Brook Farm community at West Rox- 
bury, Mass., which had been started in 1841 by George Ripley, and 
several gentlemen and ladies, as an experiment in social reform. After 
long and earnest seeking after truth, Isaac Hecker finally joined the 
Catholic Church in 1844. Soon after this, he entered the Congregation 
of the Most Holy Redeemer, and he was sent to Belgium to make his 
novitiate. He made his profession on October 1 5 th, 1 846. After pass- 
ing through many trials, he was ordained a priest and, in 185 1, sent to 
America, together with several other Redemptorists under the guid- 
ance of the celebrated Father Bernard Hafkenscheid. Under the 
direction of this master on the missionary field, Father Hecker soon 
devoted himself with ardor to the work of the missions conjointly with 
Fathers Hewit and Walworth, the latter of whom had beenhis fellow- 
student in the Redemptorist house of studies at Wittem in Holland, 
and who, after the return of Father Bernard to Europe, became Super- 
ior of the missions. Fathers Hecker, Walworth, and Hewit were con- 
verts, and their missionary band increased by the accession of two 

628 




REV. I. T. HECKER. 



THE PA U LISTS. 629 

other Redemptorists who had come over from the ranks of Protestant- 
ism, namely Fathers Baker and Deshon. These Fathers continued to 
labor among the Redemptorists until 1857, when a disagreement arose 
between them and the Superiors of the congregation concerning the 
establishment of a new house, in which English should be the language 
used by the members of the community. The superiors in America 
and in Rome would not agree to the formation of an entirely distinct 
community for the American Fathers. Hereupon Father Hecker went 
to Rome to lay their case before the Rector- Major. There is every 
reason to believe that he acted in perfect good faith and with the best 
intentions, but the result was unfortunate. One of the constitutions 
of the Redemporists since the general chapter of 1854, forbids, under 
pain of expulsion, the members of the congregation to go to the Gen- 
eral without his permission. At the time when Father Hecker went 
to Rome, this rule had been made, but it seems not to have been 
promulgated as yet. There was, also, a special regulation for the 
American province forbidding any member to return to Europe with- 
out permission. In virtue of these regulations, Father Hecker was ex- 
pelled from the congregation on the 29th of August, 1857. It fell on 
him like a thunderbolt. 

The matter was brought to the attention of the Holy See, and, after 
mature consideration, Pius IX. ignoring the expulsion, dispensed 
Father Hecker, together with his companions, . Fathers Walworth, 
He wit, Deshon, and Baker, from their vows as Redemptorists, the four 
named Fathers having petitioned for this dispensation. 1 

These Fathers, who had thus been dispensed from their vows, con- 
tinued their apostolic labors without intermission, and remained united, 
thus forming the nucleus of a new society. The case of Father 
Hecker and his associates was a most extraordinary one, and, we may 
say, unparalleled in the history of religious orders ; but Divine Provi- 
dence had its designs. On Father Hecker's return from Rome, he 
was elected Superior of the new community, which, with the appro- 
bation of Archbishop Hughes of New York, assumed the title of Mis- 
sionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle. They adopted the habit of 
the students of the Propaganda at Rome. The Programme of Rule, 
which was drawn up in anticipation of a complete Rule, to be submitted 
to the Holy See at a future day. was also approved by the Archbishop. 
It was in many of its details similar to that of the Redemptorists. The 
Paulists, however, were not to be bound by vows, the place of which was 
to betaken by a perpetual voluntary agreement. They were also to 

1 See Life of Father Hecker by Father Elliott, in which the whole matter is clearly 
stated. 



630 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



practise poverty and the observance of the common life. Their special 
object was to be the giving of missions, and, secondarily, parish work. 
On the whole they had, more or less, the same general object as the 
congregation they had left, with certain modifications. Their spirit, 
however, grew to be less conservative and of a more progressive na- 
ture than that of the Redemptorists. Had the Paulist congregation 
never been established, the influence of Father Hecker and his com- 
panions would, no doubt, have produced important modifications in 
the Congregation of the Redemptorists on this side of the Atlantic 
not in its rules and constitutions, nor in its essential spirit, but in its 
outward action and in its methods. 

In 1859 the Paulist Fathers laid the foundations of their community 
of St. Paul the Apostle, on 59th St., New York, and the corner-stone 
of this church was laid by Archbishop Hughes on June 19th of that year. 

The new community now began to receive recruits, the first of 
whom was Father Robert Beverly Tillotson, who had been a mem- 
ber of the English Oratory. He died a Paulist in 1868. The second 
accession was that of Father Alfred Young. Father Walworth did 
not remain with the Paulists, but went to the diocese of Albany. The 
Fathers after this continued their work on the missions and in the 
parish until 1865, when Father Baker died. The loss of this good 
Father, who departed this life on April 4th of that year, forced the 
Paulists to suspend their missions until 1872, with the exception of an 
occasional one. On these missions they generally followed the meth- 
od of St. Alphonsus and the Redemptorists. One of the prominent 
features of their work was their opposition to the liquor traffic. 

Soon after the death of Father Baker the number of Paulists began 
to increase, so that in a few years they were enabled to labor dili- 
gently, both in their own church of St. Paul the Apostle, in New York 
City, and on the missions. Their founder, Isaac T. Hecker, after 
much suffering, departed this life on December 22d, 1888. He was 
succeeded in the government of the congregation by Father Hewit. 

The activity of the Paulists has not been limited by missionary work; 
it has seized on various other means of renewing faith and piety. Fa- 
ther Elliott calls the conversion of non-Catholics their primary vocation. 1 
They have madejnade use of the press, especially by their periodical, 
the Catholic World ; they have been the zealous promoters of congre- 
gational singing, and they have proved themselves the apostles of tem- 
perance. 

At present the Paulists possess a house of studies on the grounds of 
the Catholic University at Washington. 

1 Life of Father Hecker, chap, xxviii. 



ST. JOSEPH'S SOCIETY FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

WE have seen, during the course of this work, that it was from Eng- 
land that during the early part of the Middle Ages those zeal- 
ous Benedictine missionaries went forth who evangelized the North 
of Europe. But England's missionary glory had waned. The cold of 
Protestantism had chilled its ardor, and the result was sterility on the 
foreign missionary field. But it could not be, that, in a century like 
ours, in which missionary activity has awakened to a new life, facili- 
tated by all the auxiliaries that modern improvements might furnish, 
the foremost country of the world should remain idle in this sphere 
while Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Holland, and Belgium vie with 
one another in contributing to it their share. And yet until 1866 
England had done comparatively nothing. But in that year there was 
an awakening. One of its noblest sons w r as to contribute hereunto. 
While Dr. Wiseman was rector of the English college in Rome, it is 
said that he was tormented by scruples. He consulted the saintly 
Father Pallotti, who assured him that this cross would not be lifted from 
his shoulders until England should possess a foreign missionary col- 
lege. The words were prophetic. On Dr. Wiseman's return to Eng- 
land, he became acquainted with the Reverend Herbert Vaughan, who 
was then a member of the congregation of the Oblates of St. Charles, 
established bv Henry Edward Manning. In him he found the same 
desire of establishing a college for foreign missions. The proposal, 
when made, found great repugnance on the part of many in England. 
The needs at home seemed so great that they could hardly understand 
how attention could be turned to foreign countries. But there were 
a few who encouraged the work. Foremost among these was Cardi- 
nal Wiseman, in whose mind it had taken root, but who was so soon 
called to his reward. Dr. Manning, his successor, was also one of its 
patrons, while it was greatly benefited by the exertions of the well- 
known writer, Lady Herbert. Amidst many difficulties Dr. Vaughan 
put his hand to the plough. He started on a tour over the earth to 
collect funds. There was no lack of difficulties to be encountered. 
In Guatemala he met with such opposition that he was even impris- 
oned. On his return to England he bought a large estate at Mill Hill 
near London, where he laid the foundations of the society. This 

631 



632 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



was in 1868. The following year the corner-stone of the present 
college was laid on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul by Dr. Man- 
ning who, in 1865, had succeeded the late Cardinal Wiseman in the 
See of Westminster. The words of Father Pallotti had proven true 
in the case of Cardinal Wiseman, whose scruples ceased when steps 
had been taken for the establishment of the college. The church 
was consecrated on March 3, 1874. Dr. Vaughan became Superior- 
General of the Society, and he has filled this position ever since, both 
as Bishop of Salford and as Archbishop of Westminster. 

This congregation bears the title of St. Joseph's Society of the Sa- 
cred Heart for Foreign Missions. Its special object is the propagation 
of the Gospel among the unevangelized races beyond Europe. The 
member of this Society takes a vow of obedience after receiving Minor 
Orders, and, being ordained Titulo Missionis, he takes the oath required 
by the Propaganda, after being ordained subdeacon. Although he 
retains the free disposal of his patrimony, nevertheless all offerings 
made to him belong to the Society. He is bound to go to what- 
ever mission he may be sent, on which, however, he has a right to have 
with him at least one companion. He is not allowed to leave his mis- 
sion without special permission of. the Superior-General, nor may he 
undertake any work or incur any expenses without the sanction of the 
local Superior. He is also obliged to decline any sort of dignity that 
may be offered to him. He has a right to be supported by the Sot 
ciety. There are also lay-brothers attached to the Society, who are 
engaged in manual labor. A person applying for admission remains 
for twelve or eighteen months a postulant, and if after that period 
two-thirds of the votes of the community are in his favor, he receives 
the red sash, which is the distinctive badge of the Society, and begins 
his probationary period. 

The first mission established by the new Society was that among 
the colored people in the United States. In December, 1871, some of 
the Fathers assumed charge of St. Francis Xavier's church for colored 
people in Baltimore, whence the work spread to several other places 
in the South. The other missions are those among the Telugs in the 
Vicariate of Madras, the Dyaks of Borneo, the Maoris of New Zealand, 
the missions of Kafiristan and Kashmir, and of the Punjab in India. 

The mother-house of the Society is at St. Joseph's Mill Hill, London, 
Besides this it possesses a college at Freshfield in England, one at 
Rozendaal, in Holland, where philosophy is taught, and another at 
Brixen, in the Tyrol. 

Thereis also a sisterhood attached to the Society of St. Joseph. The 
original members of the community were Sisters of a Protestant convent 



ST. JOSEPH'S SOCIETY FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 633 



They simultaneously conceived the desire of becoming Catholics, and 
they were received into the Church by Dr. Vaughan, who gave them 
some land at Mill Hill. They continued their community life, and 
embraced the Third Order of St. Francis. They a! tend to the kitchen, 
laundry, and bakery of the two colleges in England, conduct St. Joseph's 
Home at Patricroft for rescued children, have a mission in Borneo, and 
one in this country, in Baltimore, where they work among the children 
of colored people. They began their work in the latter place in 1881. 




ST. JOSEPH'S SOCIETY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

IP HE acceptance of the work among the negroes in this country lay 
j[ somewhat beyond the scope intended by St. Joseph's Society of 
Mill Hill, which was that of propagating the Gospel among the un- 
evangelized races beyond Europe. However, the work had been un- 
dertaken, and it continued. The following extract from the Catholic 
Mirror of April 22, 1893, gives us an insight into the establishment of 
the colleges in Baltimore for the negro missions: 

" Up to 1 887 aspirants for the negro missions were all obliged to repair 
to Mill Hill, London, where the Josephite Fathers had their house of 
studies. To cross and recross the Atlantic seemed a round-about way 
of reaching our colored population. Hence, in 1 887, by the joint action 
of Cardinal Gibbons when abroad in the interests of the Knights of 
Labor, and the present Cardinal Vaughan, Superior of the Missionaries, 
it was resolved upon to open a seminary at Baltimore, and the Rev. J. 
R. Slattery was put in charge of the new departure. By the kindness 
of the Sulpician Fathers in charge'of St. Mary's Seminary, permission 
was granted to the students of the proposed seminary to attend their 
course of lectures. Because of this advantage the old Western Mary- 
land Hotel, Pennsylvania avenue and St. Mary's street, was purchased, 
fitted up, and opened in September, 1888, with four seminarians. The 
following year the Epiphany Apostolic College, at Highland Park, was 
thrown open for the thirty-five young men who came to it in order to 
master the studies in Latin and other collegiate branches, preparatory to 
entering St. Joseph's Seminary. Since then both of these institutions 
have steadily prospered ; at present the Epiphany College has fifty 
pupils, besides it has sent eleven graduates to St. Joseph's Seminary, 
which in its turn is so crowded that it became necessary this winter 
to arrange for a new building, which is now being erected." 1 

In 1892 some of the Fathers of St. Joseph's Society in this country 
separated from the parent society in England and established an inde- 
pendent organization. This was done with the approbation of Cardi- 
nal Vaughan. The same issue of the Mirror gives us an account of 
this step in the following words : 

"As far back as 1879, Cardinal Vaughan, then Bishop of Salford, pro- 
posed it in writing to the Rev. J. R. Slattery, then head of his missions 
among the negroes. In 1884 he urged it again on Father Slattery, 

* The building has been completed, and it is now occupied by the students. 

634 



ST JOSEPH'S SOCIETY /A TR E UNITED STATES. 635 



while the latter was on a visit to England. In 18S9, at the Centennial 
of the American Hierarchy, Cardinal Vaughan, in a public letter to 
the bishops then assembled in Baltimore, but addressed to Cardinal 
Gibbons, insisted on the same step. 

"Finally, in March, 1891, Father Slattery drafted a memorial, with the 
knowledge of Cardinal Gibbons, which he sent to Cardinal Vaughan, 
praying that the proposals so often made by the latter should be car- 
ried into effect, and that the American society be constituted an in- 
dependent organization. In January, 1892, Cardinal Vaughan wrote 
officially to every priest on the negro mission, granting Father Slat- 
tery's request under certain conditions, and leaving every priest 
free either to enter the new society, or join the clergy of any diocese, 
or continue allied to England. 

" Cardinal Gibbons appointed Father Slattery the head of the new 
society, and he with his confreres met in the Epiphany College last 
July, passed a week in retreat, and drafted a body of rules for their 
government. They are the same as they had lived under heretofore, 
no change being made, not even the name of the society, save that of 
designating the centre of authority in Baltimore instead of Mill Hill, 
London. Only last month Cardinal Gibbons received the final papers 
from the Cardinal of Westminster, who wrote direct from Rome. The 
evolution of the negro missions has been healthy. On all sides from 
the start it has been felt that Americans could look after the negroes. 
Providence has put our mission field at our very doors, and there is 
every hope that we shall be faithful to our trust. 

" At present St. Joseph's Society numbers: At St. Joseph's Seminary, 
Rev. J. R. Slattery and fifteen seminarians ; at the Epiphany College, 
the Rev. D. Manley, 1 Rev. C. R. Uncles and Rev. A. J. St. Laurent, 
with fifty collegians; the Rev. J. A. De Ruyter, of Wilmington, Del., 
and Rev. L. Welbers, of St. Peter Claver's, Baltimore, Md. 

" St. Joseph's Society, which has so much to do with the evangeli- 
zation of the American colored people, is composed of clergy and laity. 
Its clergy are secular priests ordained in the same way as the diocesan 
clergy, ad titulutn missionis. The priests of St. Joseph are essentially 
missionaries; hence they take the title of their ordination from the 
missions, and, like all sons of the Propaganda, must look to the mis- 
sions for support. 

" I say, then, go in the name of God, and, with the permission and 
blessing of the bishops, collect all that is necessary for your purpose 
in men and means. The candidates whom you will educate in the 
new house will be brought up under the rule and discipline of St Joseph's 

1 Father Manley has since departed this life. 



636 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Society, and thus they will be held together and strengthened to per- 
severe in the definite missionary work for which you will train them. 
But let it be always felt and understood that our duty is to work un- 
der the bishops, and that we have no other interest or object than to 
further their views in the evangelization of the races to whom our 
rule permits us to be sent." 

" These are the words of the Bishop of Salford on the foundation of 
St. Joseph's Seminary." 

" In the United States St. Joseph's Society has two institutions in 
which aspirants are prepared for the Negro missions. The first is the 
Epiphany Apostolic College, Highland Park, Baltimore. Into this 
college boys and young men are received for their college course, jet- 
ting a good classical and scientific education. It is called apostolic to 
express its purpose of fostering the missionary spirit among its stu- 
dents. The characteristic traits of a missionary are love of the truths 
as it is the universal heritage of all mankind; in other words, a men- 
tal grasp of the Church's breadth. In his eye the Church overrides 
mountains, rivers, and oceans, brings together and unifies all people 
and tribes and families^ and makes the human race one. Possessed of 
truth himself, the apostle longs to impart it to others; wistfully his eye 
gazes on those other sheep not as yet of the fold; and longingly does 
he stretch out his arms towards them and lift up his voice to call 
them. And these traits must be fostered. They are implanted in 
the soul by the Holy Ghost, but they have a growth, need careful 
cultivation and direction, which the Epiphany Apostolic College will 
labor to impart. It is best, too, to take boys fresh from school and 
train them from a comparatively early age to their holy vocation. In 
Epiphany Apostolic College they are so trained and influenced from 
the beginning of their classical course onward, to the end that they may 
be' ever drinking in the apostolic spirit and continually studying the 
methods peculiarlv adapted to their vocation. The conditions for ad. 
mission are : 

ist. A decided inclination for the colored missions. 
2d. Recommendation from a priest. 
3d. A sound preparatory course in a good school. 
4th. Good health, and not less than fifteen years of age. 
5th. Love of study and discipline, together with a docile and cheer- 
ful disposition. 

6th. Besides supplying their own clothing and books, students are 
expected to pay as much as possible towards the expenses of tuition. 
The annual pension is fixed at $150, which will be modified as circum- 
stances demand. 



ST. JOSEPH'S SOCIETY IN THE UNITED STATES. G37 



"The corps of professors is every way competent to give the young 
men a first-rate education. 

"At present there are thirty-six students, four of whom arc colored, 
at the Epiphany. The building is large enough to provide accom- 
modation for a hundred, a number which should ere long be found 
within its walls. All these students are in preparation for St. Joseph's 
Society. 

" St. Joseph's Seminary is the other institution mentioned. Tt pro- 
vides the aspirants for the negro missions with their course of divinity. 
Its students attend the lectures in philosophy, theology, natural sciences, 
liturgy, canon law, and Sacred Scriptures at St. Mary's Seminary, 
Baltimore, receiving together with the diocesan clergy the superior 
training imparted by the Sulpician Fathers, who are specially devoted 
to the training of priests. At St. Mary's our young men are thrown 
in contract with the future pastors and bishops ot a great part of the 
land. Friendships will be formed which are sure to tend, in one way 
or other, to the evangelization of the negroes, and spread of the mis- 
sionary spirit. 

"The rules of admissions to St. Joseph's Seminary are : ist, Students 
on entering become postulants for membership in St. Joseph's Society, 
as members of which they intend to devote their lives, to the salvation 
of the negroes. 2d, Previous profession in any religious order or con- 
gregation, or dismissal from any missionary society, prevents admis- 
sion. 3d, They must be fit to enter upon the study ot philosophy, at 
least, and be able to follow the lectures at St. Mary's Seminary. 4th, 
Every postulant, if able, shall pay an entrance fee, and also provide 
himself with clothing, books, and stationery until he becomes a full 
member of the Society. 

" St. Joseph's Society is also composed of laity. All persons contrib- 
uting prayers and an annual alms, or giving substantial aid for the 
education of the missionaries, or tor their work upon the mission, are 
affiliated members of St. Joseph's Society, and participate in all its 
merits and good works." 1 

1 From data furnished by Father Slattery. 



THE MISSION HELPERS. 



ALTHOUGH the members of this community take the three tern, 
porary vows of religion, as it is, nevertheless, closely connected 
.with St. Joseph's Societ}' in this country, we give it a place in this por- 
tion of our work. It was founded in Baltimore in 1888, by Rev. J. R. 
Slattery, aided by Mrs. Hart well, the first member of the congregation. 
Ipor two years this lady remained alone before she was joined by her 
first companion. At present, after five years, the community numbers 
fifteen members and possesses two houses. Besides the three vows of 
religion which are annual, the Sisters take a fourth, that of devoting 
themselves to the salvation of the colored race. The following letter 
of one of the Sisters, published in the Colored Harvest of October, 1892, 
will give us an insight into the work of the society : 
, " My Dear Annie: In compliance with your request for an outline 
of our labors among the negro race in Baltimore, I send the following 
memoranda of a week's work, which includes most of our duties as 
Mission Helpers. May it prove interesting to you, as well as all others 
who are thinking of engaging in this apostolic work. 
, " We have no day schools, for teaching and missionary work can hard- 
ly go on hand in hand. Several rooms at our Guild are, however, set 
apart for a night school, to which servants come and learn the three 
R's. These exercises commence at 4 P. M. and last until 7.30. The 
girls come two, three, or four nights a week, as they can manage to 
leave their work. About two hundred attend this school, whose ages 
range from fourteen to sixty years. Indeed, we had one grandmother 
beyond that age, who in one winter managed to learn to read quite 
nicely, coming three nights a week, and carrying her books in a bag, 
in school-girl fashion, far more simply than her grandchildren would 
do. To quote one of her favorite savings: "It uset' mos' drive me 
'stracted 'fore f'eedom b'oke out, an' a'ter de wa' wuz ober to look at 
my p'ayer book an' couldn' read one wud." She is now very happy 
in being able to read. 

" There is also at the Guild a sewing-school, the attendance of which 
averages two hundred children, who assemble at 4 P. M. for three 
hours' work. Many of the children go to day school, which shows no 
lack of industry on their part to so cheerfully give up plaj T and recre- 

638 



TH E MISSION HELPERS. 



ation in order to master the art of using deftly the needle. The first 
sewing lesson consists in threading a needle, tying a knot, and the like. 
Afterwards the lessonsare graded, basting, running back, stitching, hem- 
ming, felling, gathering, darning, patching, etc., following in due order, 
the course terminating with button-holes. Hand sewing is thus the 
preface to the machine work, which, child-like, they would prefer to 
have first. The term from September to June usually finishes the first 
course. At Christmas the children have a treat and receive prizes for 
attendance, improvement, deportment, and catechism. They are taught 
Christian doctrine every day, learn how to say the Rosary, to follow 
the stations, and they like the May devotions in our little chapel. 
Most of them, let me say, are Protestants. When our numbers increase, 
with God's blessing, we shall teach these girls how to make their own 
clothes, and as soon as our means allows of it, we shall open a cooking- 
school, as several of us understand the culinary art. 

" In visiting their houses, however, we get a practical knowledge of 
their needs from their surroundings and home lite. Being a simple 
and hospitable people, we are generally welcomed with a bright smile, 
and a look of genuine pleasure lights up the dusky features of mother 
and children as they , recognize the Sisters. Nor have we ever met 
with aught save the deepest respect even from the lowest and most de- 
graded. When the Sisters enter a house the mother leaves her work 
and seems to instinctively understand that the good Lord has sent a 
servant of His household, whose duty it is to instruct her in spiritual 
matters, and listen to and sympathize with her in her own sorrows. 
Meanwhile a child is dispatched to collect the balance of the family, 
and every child or " head," to use the common name for a negro child, 
is presented to the visitor. More generally, however, we find the 
hearthstone desolate by the absence of the mother, who is obliged to 
go out to work to supply the little ones with bread. And here it is 
that the wretchedness of their situation fully stares us in the face. 
How to. solve the problem of their slovenly and unthrifty habits? A 
mother goes out to work in the early morning, leaving five, six, and 
even more children to manage as best they can their own dressing, 
washing, and housework, the oldest scarcely able to take care of itself 
and the others. Hence, the children may be seen on the doorsteps and 
alleys, half-dressed, strangers to a wash, whose food is uncooked and 
whose dishes remain all day on the table. When the mother comes 
home at night she is too utterly exhausted after her day's hard labor 
to attempt to teach her children the duties of the household. Those 
children, as they grow up, retain such early impressions of untidiness, 
and willconsequently fail in the qualities essential tomakea home happy. 



640 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



" Our principal work among them, however, is to train them for good 
servants, dressmakers, and kindred employments. This we can effect- 
ually do only by getting the children under the Guild's influence while 
yet very young, before their home surroundings unchangeably warp 
their character. Thus it will come to pass that their first impressions 
will be of cleanliness and neatness. 

" To turn now to a fresh phase of our work. On Sunday mornings 
four of the Sisters go to the almshouse, Bay View. Their arrival is 
welcomed with pleasure by the young and old negroes, who sit on 
the window-sill watching for them. We have had a few converts 
among them, while others are being instructed for baptism. We visit 
every ward, speaking to all, regardless of denomination, saying a few 
words of sympathy to one, encouraging another, instructing a third, 
and so on. From two to three hours are thus spent. Sunday after- 
noon four Sisters, having arrived at the jail, begin their work of in- 
structing the negro women prisoners, who average from forty to sixty. 
They commence with the " Our Father" and " Hail Mary," and then 
sing a few hymns, in which all join heartily, for the negroes, you know, 
are beautiful song birds.. They seem to be specially pleased at seeing 
our solitary colored Sister presiding at the organ. Singing over, 
Catechism class follows, when their interest is fully aroused. In their 
zeal to learn the prayers and study the lesson, the hardness of the 
criminal face disappears and is replaced by a happy, hopeful expression. 
This lesson is taught to all together, after which the Sisters talk to 
everyone individually, going from bench to bench, exhorting and en- 
couraging them. The exercises close with prayers and hymns, and 
their desire of prolonging the Sisters' time with them is evidence of 
their interest. We hope that by kindness and with God's blessing we 
shall be able to charm many of these unfortunate women from their 
life of sin and crime. In the morning another band visits the Peniten- 
tiary, where also some of the inmates are under instruction. Of course, 
the devotional exercises are the same as at the, jail. 

" In St. Martin's parish a sewing-school on Saturday, and a Sunday- 
school for the negro children of that parish is another work. The at- 
tendance at the latter is less than that at the former, because only 
Catholic children are there, while in the sewing-school we have chil- 
dren of all denominations; but as Catechism is taught here also, there 
are good hopes that at some future time it will be the means of bring- 
ing some of them, if not all, into the Church. 

" A band of us is set apart to visit the homes and instruct the parents 
in household duties, where deemed necessary. All of the work men- 
tioned thus far is done in the city. Besides, we have also a sewing- 



THE MISSION HELPERS. 



641 



school in Waverly. The colored school there is taught by a lay-teacher, 
but one day in every week two Sisters teach the children sewing, knit- 
ting, etc. All the eight hospitals in the city that receive negro patients 
are also visited by the Sisters. I arn sorry to say, however, that there 
are some hospitals that will not receive them. Moreover, every fort- 
night, alternately with a priest of the Colored Mission, we visit the 
State Reformatory for Colored Girls at Melvale. Begging you and 
all kind friends and enquirers to pray for us and our perseverance, and 
trusting that the Queen of the Rosary and our great Father, St. Joseph, 
will raise up many helpers, 

Believe me, your affectionate sister, 

FANNIE, {Sister ), 

Mission Helper* 
St. Joseph's Guilds 416 West Biddle street, Baltimore, Md" 



SUPPLEMENT. 



A GLANCE AT BENEDICTINE ENGLAND BEFORE THE 

SUPPRESSION. 

IT is an undisputed fact that St. Gregory the Great, zealous for the 
conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, sent from Rome St. Augus- 
tin, the Prior of his monastery of St. Andrew, in company with several 
religious. It is probable that St, Augustin and his companions; were 
Benedictines. After the conversion of Ethelbert, king ' of Kent., St. 
Augustin went over to France, where he received the episcopal con- 
secration from the hands of Virgil, Bishop of Aries. On his return to 
England, he established the episcopal See of Canterbury, and in 602 
he built a church dedicated to our Saviour, and a monastery under the 
invocation of Saints Peter and Paul. Another monastery he built near 
his cathedral. The fact that the monks of the latter were of the Order 
of St. Benedict does not conclusively prove that originally their mon- 
astery was under the rule of the holy Patriarch, for several convents 
in Europe which, in course of time, became Benedictine, had at first 
professed another rule. The monks in Canterbury served the cathe- 
dral instead of canons until the reign of Henry VIII. This was the 
case with various other English cat hedrals, such as those of York, Roch- 
ester, Winchester, Durham, Lindisfarne, Ely, Coventry, Dorchester, 
Salisbury, and Wilton. After the death of St. Augustin, in 607, the 
Monastery of SS. Peter and Paul at Canterbury received his name. 
The Abbey of Westminster was founded in 605 by one of his disciples, 
Saint Melitus, Bishop of London. It is probable that the Abbey of 
Glastonbury antedates the advent of St. Augustin. It is believed 
that it was inhabited by solitaries, who lived as those of Egypt, until 
they adopted the rule of St. Benedict. Ina, king of the West Saxons, 
rebuilt it in the year 725, and it became one of the most renowned Ben- 
edictine houses. The abbot and religious of this monastery enjoyed 
the privilege, granted to them in 971 by King Edgar, of releasing any 
criminal whom they chanced to meet on the way to execution. 

Several monasteries had been founded in England by Irishmen 
who held tenaciously to their practice of celebrating Easter at a time 
different from that customary at Rome. This became the cause of 
great disputes in the Anglo-Saxon Church, so much so that the Irish 

64 2 



BENEDICTINE ENGLAND BEFORE THE SUPPRESSION. 643 



sometimes separated from the monasteries where the Roman custom 
prevailed, and in which, sooner or later, the Benedictine rule was 
adopted. This was especially the case in the Abbeys of Lindisfarne and 
Rippon. 

In the eighth century was founded the Abbey of Saint Albansby Offa, 
king of the Mercians. The abbot was honored.' by the title of first 
abbot of England, and eleven monasteries depended on this abbey. In 
the same century England was harassed by the Danes, the Abbey of Lin- 
disfarne was pillaged, and many of the monks were put to death; that 
of Yarrow followed, and hardly a single monastery escaped their fury. 
After the conversion of these barbarians, peace was restored under 
the pious King Alfred, who built, among others, a monastery at Wil- 
ton. The Abbey of Glastonbury was repaired by St. Dunstan. We 
learn from the life of this saint, as well as from other sources, that 
in those- times an ecclesiastical title was required for the ordination of 
monks as well as of Other ecclesiastics. Morever, monks were not then, 
as at a later period, considered civilly dead, but they were allowed to 
inherit. Saint Dunstan, having become Archbishop of Canterbury., 
urged King Edgar to labor at the re-establishment of monastic disci- 
pline which had suffered greatly from the incursions of the Danes. 
Monks were brought for this purpose from the monasteries of Saint- 
Benoit-sur-Loire in France, and St. Peter of Ghent in Flanders, and 
regulations were drawn up by St. Dunstan, which were observed in 
England untilLanfrancbecameArchbishopof Canterbury, in 1070. The 
latter, who was from the Abbey of Bee in Normand}^, introduced stat- 
utes conformable to the usages of the most celebrated abbeys of the 
Benedictine order. In those days it was still customary to receive 
children into the monasteries. 

In 12 1 5, the Council of Lateran decreed that in each province gen- 
eral chapters should be held. On this occasion the English Benedic- 
tines were divided into the two provinces of Canterbury and York, 
and they began to hold chapters every three years. About a century 
later these two provinces were again united, and the entire body held 
a chapter in 1338 at Northampton. This state of affairs continued un- 
til the schism under Henry VIII. At the time ot the suppression, the 
English Benedictines possessed forty abbeys, fourteen priories, and 
at least seven cathedrals. Twenty-four abbots and the Prior of Cov- 
entry had seats in Parliament. Besides the great body of English 
Benedictines, who were generally known as Black Monks, there were 
others following the rule of St. Benedict, subject to foreign congrega- 
tions, such as those of Cluny and Tyron, and those dependant on the 
French abbeys of St Denis, Marmputier, Bee, and others. 



MONASTERIES IN SPAIN. 



HHE Iberian Peninsula is in many respects intensely interesting. 



The geologist, botanist, and zoologist find there inexhaustible 
sources of research. The lover of art will discover in it immense 
treasures, while there is hardly a more fertile field for the antiquarian. 
Above all, it is the paradise of the ecclesiastical historian. Spain has 
throughout the history of the Church acted an important part in the 
events that have left impressions upon the memory of mankind. During 
the course of this work, we have seen how frequently mention has 
been made of it. Few countries indeed have been richer in religious, 
and in monasteries. Travel with us, reader, over this beautiful coun- 
try and you will be persuaded of the truth of these words. 

Enter from the North. One of the first religious houses to which your 
attention will be drawn is that of the Jesuits at Loyola. It encloses 
within it the Santa Casa, where St. Ignatius was born. The convent 
was founded in 1681 by Maria Ana of Austria, wife of Philip IV. The 
church is an imitation of the Pantheon at Rome, and it contains a rich 
collection of marble. Above the altar is a life-size silver statue of St, 
Ignatius. In this place, where their saintly founder first beheld the 
light, the Spanish Jesuits have their scholasticate. Here the last 
general congregation of the order was held, in which Father Martin 
was elected General. 

Drive from Loyola to Zumarraga station, take the train bound for 
Madrid, alight at Bribiesca, whence a drive of seventeen miles will 
take you to the Benedictine convent of San Salvador. At Burgos 
you w T ill find the Carthusian monastery and that of the Discalced Car- 
melite nuns, of which we have spoken elsewhere. Here, too, is a mon- 
astery of Discalced Carmelite Friars, another of Augustinian, and one 
of Trinitarian nuns. Perhaps the most interesting convent near Bur- 
gos is that of Las Huelgas, belonging to the Cistercian order. It was 
founded in 1 187 by Alfonso VIII., at the wish of his queen Eleanora, 
daughter of Henry II. of England. In the royal chapel are the 
tombs of Alfonso VII., Alfonso VIII., Queen Leonora, Henn^ I., and 
other royal personages. In this chapel St. Ferdinand, Alfonso XI., and 
Edward I. of England were knighted. All the nuns of the convent are 
members of the nobility. The Abbess was formerly a princess palatine. 




MONASTERIES IN SPAIN 



Several persons of royal blood took the veil in this convent, amdng 
whom were Berenguela, daughter of St. Ferdinand, and Maria of Ara- 
gon, aunt to Charles V. 

Five miles from Burgos is the monastery of San Pedro de Cardena r 
founded for the Benedictines early in the Middle Ages. The Cid was 
buried here, but his remains now lie in the town-hall of Burgos. 

Travelling South, you will reach Valladolid, once the capital of 
Spain. Here, besides the Dominican convent, you will find that of the 
Discalced Carmelite nuns, founded by St. Teresa. Here, too, is the 
Scotch college which once belonged to the Jesuits, and where the Ven. 
Luis de Puente died. These Fathers conduct, at present, another very 
vast college in the same city. At Medina del Campo you will find in- 
teresting reminiscences of St. Teresa, and St. John of the Cross. But, 
above all, Avila will rivet your attention. The city has not as many 
convents as it possessed in the days of St. Teresa but there are still a 
number within its walls or in the vicinity. Of Avila we have elsewhere 
spoken, as well as of the Escurial, which lies further South, on the line 
to Madrid. Last named city, the capital of Spain, is comparatively mod- 
ern. Like other large Catholic cities, it contains a number of religious 
houses, though of inferior interest to the historian. One of the most 
interesting is that of the Descalzas Reales, founded in 1559 by Juana, 
daughter of Charles V. The Abbess of this convent ranks as a grandee 
of Spain. There is also a new institution founded by the present 
queen-regent for the Ladies of the Assumption from Paris. • Her 
Majesty frequently visits it in company of her little son, Alfonso XIII. 

At Segovia, there are convents of Poor Clares and Discalced Car- 
melites, besides others that have been suppressed. Here, too, is the 
Dominican convent of Santa Cruz, founded by Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, which is now a poor-house and foundling asylum. Near the 
city is the Parral, a once wealthy Jeronymite convent, now occupied 
by Franciscan nuns. It was founded in 1494 by Juan, Marquis de 
Villena, no doubt in expiation of his duel, fought on the site, and in 
which he killed three antagonists. 

The old Benedictine monastery at Najera, northeast of Burgos, was 
once one of the burial places of royalty, for 35 bodies of the royal fam- 
ilies lie here. The court of Navarra resided in this town, which is 
now insignificant, having a population of only 2,600, and here St. 
Ferdinand was crowned. The suppressed and despoiled Benedictine 
abbey of San Millan was once so splendid that it was called the Es- 
corial de Rioja. 

Omitting mention of many convents and monasteries dispersed 
throughout the northern and eastern portion of the Peninsula, we di- 

I: 



646 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, 



rect our' attention to the venerable and most interesting city of Tole- 
do. Among the religious houses here you will, no doubt, visit the 
convent of Santo Domingo el Real, which belongs to the Dominican 
nuns. To be permitted to visit the convent of the nuns of Santiago, 
you need an order from the ecclesiastical authorities. The religious 
belonging to the order of Knighthood of St. James, are all noble la- 
dies. They wear the white robes and red cross of the order. In this 
city is also the convent of San Juan de la Penitencia, founded for the 
Franciscan order by Cardinal Ximenez in 15 11. 

Travelling towards the South, we reach the town of Almagro, fif- 
teen miles East of Ciudad Real, where a convent of the Order of Cala- 
trava will attract our attention. As we have seen in the course of our 
work, the knights of the Order of Calatrava ceased to be strictly 
religious when they obtained permission to marry, but the female 
branch of the order consists of religious in the true sense. There is 
also a church of Calatrava in Madrid, to which, we believe, that a con- 
vent of nuns of the order is still attached. 

Travel with us towards the South, and halt for a while at Cordova. 
This intensely interesting city of strongly Moorish type was, during 
a portion of the Middle Ages, the centre of Arab learning, hence we 
need not look within its walls for monasteries and convents of very 
ancient date. The city itself goes back to the time of the Carthagini- 
ans, by whom it was called the gem of the South, and, indeed, for one 
coming from dreary Madrid and the still more dreary plains of La 
Mancha, Cordova, with its mild, almost tropical climate, its olive plan- 
tations and orange groves, is like a little paradise. It remained in 
possession of the Moors from the time of the conquest in the eighth cen- 
tury, until the thirteenth, when it was captured from them by St. Ferdi- 
nand, king of Castile, and the third of his name. From the year 1235, 
Cordova became a Christian city, its magnificent mosque, the finest spec- 
imen of Moorish architecture in Europe, was converted into a church, 
and the religious life began to flourish within it, but the revolutions of 
modern times have mostly desecrated its monasteries or converted them 
into schools, hospitals, and other institutions. The convent of La Trin- 
idad, for instance, is now occupied by a corps of government horse-tam- 
ers, who break in the wild horses of the Sierra for the Spanish cavalry. 

One of the most interesting spots for the student of monasticism are 
the Hermitages of Val Paraiso, situated at a distance of about two 
leagues from the city. A permission to visit them must be obtained 
at the bishop's palace. The Brothers, about fifteen in number, belong 
to the order of St. Paul the First Hermit, of whom we treated among 
the Mendicant orders. They wear a brown habit. 



MONASTERIES IN SPAIN. 



til 



Travelling South from Cordova we reach Seville, another Moorish 
city, and one of the most important in Spain. It also dates from the 
time of the Phoenicians. It was captured by Julius Caesar in the year 
45 B. C, and he gave to it the title of Little Rome. It was the capital 
of the Goths until the sixth century, when Leovigild removed his court 
to Toledo. It has been rendered illustrious by the life of the learned 
and holy Archbishop, St. Isidore of Seville. After the Moorish con- 
quest it remained in possession of the Mohammedans until the year 1248, 
when it was captured by St. Ferdinand, who died in this city on May 31, 
1252. It remained the capital of Spain until Charles V. removed the 
court to Valladolid. It was in this city that Cardinal Wiseman was 
born in No. 11, Calle Fabiola, on August 2, 1802. 

Here, too, as elsewhere in Spain, you will find convents and monas- 
teries that were taken from their rightful owners by the government, 
for instance the Dominican convent, where are now the offices of the 
civil administration. 

The convent of San Clemente el Real was founded by Alfonso the 
Wise, and close by is the convent of Calatrava. The noble old Carthu- 
sian monastery, outside of Seville, founded in 1400 by Don Gonzalo de 
Mena, Archbishop of the city and a monk of the order, is now a por- 
celain manufactory. 

The city of Granada was the last stronghold of the Moors, and it fell 
into the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Before the year 1836, 
Granada possessed ninteen convents of monks and friars. These were 
all suppressed, but there are still within it seventeen convents of nuns. 

The Dominican convent is now a military school. There is, also, 
a suppressed Carthusian monastery. 

In the extreme South, some miles from Medina Sidonia, is the Con- 
vento del Cuervo, erected during the reign of Charles V. as a place of 
penance for monks who had been guilty of heinous crimes. It con- 
tains several dungeons. 

Near the town of Huelva, on the confluence of the rivers Odiel and 
Tinto, stands the old convent of Santa Maria de La Rabida, which once 
harbored Columbus, and which is now again in the possession of the 
Franciscan Friars. We were present at La Rabida on the day when 
this venerable sanctuary was restored to them by her Majesty, Maria 
•Christina, the present queen-regent of Spain, in person. 

Turn towards the West, and cast a glance at the Asturias, Leon and 
Galicia, which form the most ancient portion of the Spanish monarchy. 
In the ancient town of Sahagun, at present with a population of 2,600 
inhabitants, was founded by Alonso III. a Benedictine abbey in the 
year 905. He destined it to be the burial-place of himself and his wives. 



648 



HI8T0RY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Many of the early kings of Spain retired to this abbey, among whom 
mention is made of Bermudo L in 791, Alonso IV. in 931, Ramiro II. 
in 950, and Sancho of Leon in 1067. The abbey was plundered by 
the French invaders in 1810, and after their departure, the church 
was nearly burnt down by the Spaniards themselves. 

At Leon you may see the old convent of the Knights of St. James, 
which is now devoted to other purposes. There, too, is the convent of 
St. Isidore, called the Real Casa. It was the burial-place of the early 
kings of Castile and Leon. The church was desecrated by the French 
in the early part of the present century; and the Panteon, or royal 
burial-place, was torn to pieces by the soldiery. A few miles from 
Leon your attention will be attracted by the ruins of Lancia, an old 
monastery built about the tenth century, by monks who had been 
expelled from Cordova by the Moors. 

At Oviedo there is a building, now a hospital, and once a Franciscan 
convent, which is said to have been founded by St. Francis himself.. 
One of the earliest monasteries in Spain is that of Santiago de Pen- 
alva in the neighborhood of Villafranca. The church dates from the 
tenth century, and it was built originally in pure Moorish style, it be- 
ing coeval with the great mosque of Cordova. There were numerous 
Benedictine abbeys in this, the Gothic portion of the Peninsula. 

Twelve miles East of the town of El Ferrol, in the secluded valley 
of Caaveiro, lie the picturesque ruins of an ancient monastery. The 
place is difficult of access ; wild mountian-paths and a steep descent will 
bring you to the valley where the ivy-mantled ruins of by-gone ages rest.. 
The massive walls, embattled turrets and numerous subterranean dun- 
geons seem to indicate that the building was originally constructed for 
one of the military orders, at a later date, passing into the hands of other 
religious. In the gloomly cells beneath, if they were dungeons, the 
prisoner was unable to stand upright or even lie at length upon the 
damp floor. 1 

Turning towards the East, travelling for instance from Portugal to 
Madrid, you will, no doubt, stop at Salamanca. This venerable uni- 
versity city, of which the glory has greatly waned, is still interesting 
to the student of matters appertaining to monasticism. One of the 
finest churches in the city is that of the Augustinas Recoletas, a con- 
vent founded in 1626 by Manuel de Zuniga, count of Monterey. It is 
supposed that the magnificent collection of works of art, made by the 
founder while he was viceroy of Naples, is still to be found within 
the enclosure of the convent, which, of course, is inaccessible to the 
public. 

1 Handbook for travellers in Spain — Richard Ford. — :8th. Ed. 



MONASTERIES IN SPAIN. 



649 



The Dominican convent of San Esteban, still inhabited by religious 
of that order, is intimately connected with the Discovery of America. 
Here lived Friar Diego de Deza, afterwards Archbishop of Seville. 
He, together with the other Dominican Fathers, espoused the cause 
of Columbus, who was lodged in this convent between the years 1484 
and i486, although the Doctors of the University had pronounced 
against him. 

Besides the convent of Bernardine nuns, and that of Espiritu Santo, 
destined for noble ladies, there is, also at Salamanca, a convent of Dis- 
calced Carmelite nuns, founded by St. Teresa herself in the year 1570. 

Perhaps the most interesting monastic remains in Estremadura are 
those of the Jeronymite monastery of Yuste. Situated at a distance of 
28 miles from Plasencia, this venerable relic nestles amidst woods, about 
half way up the Sierra de Vera. It was founded in 1404, on a spot 
where fourteen Gothic bishops had been put to death by the Moors. 
In 1554, the Emperor Charles V. sent hither his son Philip, while the 
latter was on his way to England to marry Queen Mary, to inspect 
the place which he had selected as a retreat in his old age. After his 
abdication at Brussels, he arrived here in February, 1557, and, the fol- 
lowing year, 1558, he died on September 21st: His life had been one 
of great activity and excitement. Grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
by their daughter Joanna, Charles, then sixteen years of age, succeeded 
his father, Philip I., as king of Spain in 15 16. Two years later, the im- 
perial throne being left vacant by the death of his paternal grandfather, 
the Emperor Maximilian, the votes of the electors were cast upon him, 
and he became emperor. He had hardly been raised to the imperial 
throne, when a war broke out between himself and Francis I., king of 
France. Shortly after, the Protestant Reformation, inaugurated by 
Martin Luther, came to disturb the peace of the empire. From this 
period on, his life may be said to have been spent in turmoil. No 
wonder that, wearied with the cares of royalty, he finally abdicated 
and sought to prepare himself for death in peaceful retirement. 

Near the entrance to the monastery stands the walnut tree under 
which Charles V. was wont to sit, while his mind, no doubt, frequently 
reverted to the warlike scenes midst which his life had been spent. 
To-day the convent of Yuste is in ruins. Behind it trickles the stream- 
let Yuste, whence it has taken its name. In a vault below the church 
is preserved the chestnut coffin in which the mortal remains of the em- 
peror reposed, until, in 1574, they were removed to the Escurial. A 
door to the right of the altar gives entrance to the room occupied by 
the monarch, and in the one where he expired there is a window through 
which, from his sick-bed, he could follow the celebrant of the Mass. 



650 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



The pillared gallery is connected with a raised archway, by which the 
emperor descended into the garden. Here the sundial, erected for* 
him by Juanelo Turriano, and the stone-step by which he mounted his 
horse, still stand. An inscription here records the spot where he was 
seated on August 31st, 1558, when he felt the first approach of death. 

A traveller who had visited the monastery of Yuste before the spoli- 
ation writes thus: 

" Never a^ain will it be the lot of traveller to be welcomed, like our- 
selves, by the real and fit. masters, the cowled friars, to whom news 
and a stranger from the real living world was a godsend. The day 
was passed in sketching and sauntering about the ruined buildings and 
gardens with the good-natured garrulous brotherhood. At nightfall 
supper was laid for the monks at a long board, but the Prior and Pro- 
curador had a small table set apart in an alcove, where I sat an honored 
guest. As the windows were thrown open, to admit the cool thyme- 
scented breeze, the eye in the clear evening swept over the boundless 
valley, the nightingales sang sweetly in the neglected orange garden, 
and the bright stars, reflected in the ink-black tank below, twinkled 
like diamonds. How often had Charles looked out on a stilly eve on 
this self-same unchanged scene, where he alone was now wanting! 
When supper was done, I shook hands all round with my kind hosts, 
and went to bed, in the very chamber where the Emperor slept his last 
sleep. All was soon silent, and the spirit of the mighty dead ruled 
again in his last home ; but no Charles disturbed the deep slumber of 
a weary, insignificant traveller; long ere daybreak next morning I was 
awakened by a pale monk, and summoned to the early Mass, which 
the Prior in his forethought had ordered. The chapel was imperfectly 
lighted: the small congregation consisted of the monk, my sunburnt 
muleteer, and a stray beggar, who, like myself, had been sheltered in 
the convent. When the service was concluded, all bowed a farewell 
to the altar on which the dying glance of Charles had been fixed, and 
departed in peace ; the morning was grey and the mountain-air keen; 
nor was it until the sun had risen high that its cheerful beams dispelled 
the cowl and relaid the ghost of Charles in the dim pages of history." 

The convent of Yuste and the surrounding estate belong at present 
to the Marquis de Mirabel. 

We have seen in the course of this work, that in the twelfth century 
was founded the military order of Alcantara. The ruins of their gran- 
ite-built old convent of St. Benedict, still exist in the town of that 
name in Estremadura. The church contains the tombs of many of the 
knights, while the remains of others repose in the cloisters. 

The richest and most venerated monastery in Spain was that of the 



MONASTERIES IN SPAIN 



651 



Jeronymite religious at Guadalupe, the fame of whose miraculous image 
has gone over the world. It is said to have been carved by St. Luke 
and to have been given to St. Leander by St. Gregory the Great. An 
old proverb alluding to the wealth of the monks of this convent sounded 
thus : 

" Qiiien es conde, y desca ser duque, 
Metase fraile en Guadalupe" 
" Whoseover is count, and wishes to be duke, 
Must become friar in Guadalupe." 

The walls are castellated, as a defence against the Moors was neces- 
sary. Like so many other sacred places in Spam, the Sanctuary of 
Guadalupe has been the victim of enormous spoliation. 

If, crossing the Peninsula, we travel eastward we shall reach Valen- 
cia. Here we shall find the Dominican convent in which St. Vincent 
Ferrer received the habit. It is now enclosed within the barracks of 
the citadel. 

About thirty miles from Tarragona exists the famous Cistercian 
monastery of Poblet, built about the year 1 149. It was the burial-place 
of the Arragonese kings. The monks were driven away after the death 
of Ferdinand VII., in the early part of the present century. It must 
have been of great wealth and magnificence in its palmy days, but 
much of this has been destroy ed. It appears that, at a certain period,, 
none but scions of the highest aristocracy were admitted among its 
members, and the abbot exercised a feudal jurisdiction over the peas- 
antry within the domains of the monastery. The abbot's palace is still 
seen to the right of the church. The sovereign had royal quarters 
within this abbey. 

Of the famous sanctuary of Montserrat and its Benedictine abbey, 
as well as of the grotto of St. Ignatius de Loyola at Manresa, we have 
elsewhere spoken. Now, reader, we close our brief monastic tour 
through the Spanish portion of the Iberian Peninsula. 



THE ROYAL MONASTERY OF LAS HUELGAS. 



ONE of the most extraordinary convents in the world, as well on ac- 
count of the enormous privileges it enjoyed as of its peculiar 
history, is that of the Cistercian Nuns of Burgos, known as Las Huelgas. 
It occupies the site of an ancient palace of the kings of Castile, which 
served as a pleasure-resort, whence its name, Las Huelgas (the pleasure 
ground), is derived. In 1180, the kingdom of Castile was ruled by 
Alonso VIII. His spouse was Eleonora, daughter of Henry II. of 
England. In compliance with her desires, as well as those of his 
daughters, Dona Berenguela and Dona Urraca, the king founded this 
abbey in 11 80 or 1 187, according to Helyot. Its first members came 
from the Cistercian abbey of Tulebras, and the first abbess was Dona 
Misol de Aragon, whose tomb still exists in the abbey. Among the 
first religious was Sancha de Aragon, who became third abbess, and 
who is, also, buried in the monastery. She was a daughter of the king 
of Aragon. Constancia, daughter of Alonso VIII. of Castile, having 
taken the veil in the abbey, became immediate successor of Misol as 
abbess. The king, her father, richly endowed the monastery, and de- 
sired that it should be pre-eminent by its privileges. In 1 188, the king 
sent the Bishop of Siguenza to the General Chapter of Citeaux to re- 
quest permission for the abbesses of Castile and Leon to hold a Gen- 
eral Chapter of their own. Thisw^as granted, and, in 1189, the chapter 
was convened in the abbey of Las Huelgas. There were present the 
bishops of Burgos, Placencia, and Siguenza, with the abbots of the 
monasteries of Valbuena, Hitero, Buena-Val, Sandoval, and three 
others, together with the abbot of Echel-Dieu, in France, who had 
been deputed by the abbot of Citeaux to preside over the Chapter. 
There were seven abbesses of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, name- 
ly, those of Perales, Turrecremata, San Andrea de Arroyo, Carrizo, 
Gradefes, Canas, and Fuentalmesi. The abbesses of Saint Columba 
and Tulebras refused to be present; the former for reasons unknown, 
the latter, because she considered it unjust tKat her abbey should be 
subject to that of Las Huelgas, which was a filiation of her own. 

At the chapter, which opened on April 7, the abbesses of Perales 
and Gradefes showed themselves averse to being subject to the mon- 
astery of Las Huelgas, they being, also, filiations of Tulebras. How- 

652 



1 

TEE ROYAL MONASTERY OF LAS HUMLGAS. 653 



■ever, the authority of the king intervened, and the abbess of Tulebras 
was forced to consent that the two Superiors in question should be 
present at the Chapter of Las Huelgas. The next year, there was 
another Chapter in the same abbey, t he abbess of Saint Columba being 
present, and it was decreed that henceforth they should assemble 
every year on November nth, that the abbess of Las Huelgas should 
be acknowledged as mother, and stand in the same capacity to the 
other abbesses as the abbot of Citeaux stood to the abbots of the or- 
■der, that the abbess of Las Huelgas should visit the other monaster- 
ies, and that four abbesses should visit Las Huelgas in the same man- 
ner as the abbots ol La Ferte, Pontigni, Clairvaux, and Morimond were 
the visitors of Citeaux. Each abbess, coming to the General Chapter, 
was allowed to bring with her six servants, male and female, and five 
horses. When these scenes were transpiring in Spain, the great St. 
Bernard was only thirty-six years in his grave, and the Order of Cit- 
oeaux not yet a century old. 

At that period, and until the Council of Trent, there was no en- 
closure observed in these abbeys, and, consequently, the voyages of 
the abbesses from one monastery to the other might take place, but 
the Council of Trent, by its rule of enclosure, put an end to them, 
and the General Chapters ceased, though the abbess of Las Huelgas 
reserved to herself the right of visiting the abbeys, by means of com- 
missaries. 

Gradually the privileges of the abbess of Las Huelgas grew to such 
;an extent, that she exercised both temporal and spiritual jurisdiction 
over fifty-one villages and twelve monasteries, with right of trial in 
civil and criminal cases. She nominated the Alcalde of Huelgas and, 
it seems, Burgos had no jurisdiction within that district. In so far 
as the spiritual was concerned, she promoted to parishes and chap- 
laincies, approved and granted titles for celebrating Mass, the exer- 
cise of the sacrament of penance, preaching and the care of souls; 
she also admitted to the reception of the habit and profession, and 
-even gave dimissorial letters for ordination. In fact, the abbess of Las 
Huelgas was almost a bishop on a small scale. The second abbess, 
the Infanta Constancia, must have considered herself something akin 
to a priest or bishop. At least she seemed to believe that she had 
the same power as the abbots, and that she was allowed the use of all 
their privileges, even those inherent in the priesthood, for. in 1210, she 
began to give her blessing to the novices, to explain the Gospel, to 
preach from the pulpit, — and who would believe it? — to hear the con- 
fessions of her Sisters. All this took place with the tacit consent of 
the king. The Superiors of the order, afraid to resist the authority of 



054 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



the sovereign, complained to Pope Innocent III., who, in 12 10, commis- 
sioned the bishops of Burgos and Palencia, and the abbot of Mori- 
mond, to put an end to these abuses. 

The third abbess, Sancha of Aragon, obtained new privileges for the 
abbey from St, Ferdinand, king of Castile. Elvira, the fifth abbess 
fixed the number of the choir-sisters at one hundred, and that of the 
young ladies who were educated at the monastery, at forty. This 
same abbess, refusing in 1260, to submit to the canonical visitation of 
Guy ILL, abbot of Citeaux, was excommunicated by the General Chap- 
ter of the order. The abbesses of this monastery were first perpetual, 
but, in course of time, their office became triennial. 

The present church dates from the year 1279, when it was com- 
pleted by Alfonso X., but, within the enclosure, there are a few rem- 
nants, portions, no doubt, of the original buildings of the abbey or, 
perhaps, of the still older palace, in Romano-Byzantine style. The 
nave is used exclusively by the nuns, and an iron grating separates it 
from the crossing. Male visitors are allowed to enter the transepts. 
This royal edifice was the burial-place of some of the early kings of 
Spain, and here are the tombs of Alfonso VII., Alfonso VIII., Queen 
Leonora, Alfonso X., whose body is at Seville; Enrique I., and a 
number of princes and princesses and other royal personages. In 
this church was crowned Alfonso XI. in 1 33 1, Don Pedro [., Don 
Enrique II. in 1366, and Don Juan I. and his queen, Dona Leonora, 
in 1379. Here, too, many years before, were celebrated the espousals 
of the prince, Don Fernando de la Cerda with the princess, Dona 
Blanca in 1269. An august gathering was present, consisting of 
the kings of Castile and Aragon, the latter being James I., the 
sovereign of Granada, which was then in possession of the Moors 
the princes of France, England, Aragon, and Castile, heirs to the 
thrones of their respective kingdoms; the three Infantes, sons of St. 
Ferdinand, king of Castile, with his brother, Don Sancho, brother of the 
queen and archbishop of Toledo, the Marquis of Monferrat, the Count of 
Deu, brother of the king of Jerusalem, the Empress of Canstantinople, 
the Ambassador of the German Empire, and a number of other dis- 
tinguished persons. A more select gathering can hardly be imagined. 

It, was, also, in this church that were knighted various kings of 
Castile, among whom were St. Ferdinand and Alfonso XL The same 
dignity was here conferred in 1254, upon Edward I. of England by 
Alfonso the Wise. 

All these glories have long since passed, and nothing remains of all 
the greatness save a few tombs, covering a handful of dust, but the 
old abbey, with its cloistered inmates, attracts to-day the attention o£ 



THE ROYAL MONASTERY OF LAS HUELGAS. 655 



travellers as the train whirls past the ancient city, reminding one of 
centuries and events, both glorious and inglorious, that lie buried in 
the grave of a distant past. 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABIDA." 



OT the least interesting among the many works appertaining to the 



_\ history of the Discoverer of America, which, in this quater-cen- 
tennialyear, vie with each other in point of merit, is the book bearing 
the title given above. Written in the beautiful and sweetly-flowing lan- 
guage of Castile, it is, like many other fruits of the Spanish pen, but 
little known to the English world at large. 

In his preface, the author, Fray Jose Coll, tells us that the task of 
writing the book had been imposed upon him by the General of his or- 
der, and that the work is nothing more than a simple exposition of the 
part taken by the Franciscans in the great work of the discovery of 
America, together with an account of the first members of the order 
who labored in the New W orld. 

It is just, he says, that the brethren of Juan Perez and Antonio Mar- 
chena, who took such an active part in the work of Columbus, should 
co-operate in rescuing their names from oblivion. It is the duty of 
members of the same order to proclaim the glories of Columbus, who 
himself was a Franciscan tertiary, and to pay a tribute to La Rabida 
• — a name intimately associated with the history of the discovery of 
America. The author regrets the scarcity of authentic documents 
calculated to throw light upon the days spent by the immortal Geno- 
ese at the convent of that name, in the company of the sons of St. Fran- 
cis who inhabited that peaceful abode of virtue. The little convent of 
La Rabida is situated in the province of Huelva, at the western ex- 
tremity of Andalusia, at a distance of half a league from the ancient 
city of Palos, whence the daring navigator with whose memory the 
present year is redolent, set sail to cross the Mare Tenebr.osum, the dark 
ocean, in quest of a passage to the Indies. Leaving Palos, the trav- 
eller passes over an almost level but woody country, across which the 
fresh breezes from the Atlantic are unceasingly wafted. Whoever 
has read the life of Columbus and the description of the convent 
as it was when, as a weary traveller, he first knocked at its hospitable 

1 Colon y La. Rabida ; con unestudio Acercade Los Franciscanos en el Nuevo Mundo, 
por el M. R. P. Fr. Jose Coll, Defmidor General de la Ordende SanFrancisco. Madrid, 
1891. — This article/by the author of the present work, appeared in the Catholic World 
of August, 1892. 




656 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABID A. 



057 



gates, is doomed to disappointment. The luxuriant vegatation which once 
surrounded it and covered its very walls, the tropical plants, the palm 
trees and orange trees which added their fragance to the loveliness of 
the landscape, have entirely disappeared; and in their stead naught is to 
be seen save a few vines, and here and there a bush or solitary tree. 

One object, however, meets your gaze which cannot fail to interest 
the lover of Columbian relics, and which carries the mind back through 
a space of four hundred years to the memorable day which became 
the turning point in the history of Columbus. It is the large iron 
cross, raised on a stone pedestal, at the foot of which, as tradition as- 
serts, the great Christopher, with his little Diego— weary, hungry, and 
heartsore— sat down to rest. It was one of those moments in which 
the soul, even of a hero, seems to sink into the abyss of despondency. 
Years of untiring labor had seemingly ended in failure; the hopes of an 
ardent heart, raised to the highest pitch of enthusiasm in Portugal, had 
been dashed to pieces against the rock of disappointment, and the fu- 
ture, like the mysterious Atlantic that washed the shores at his feet, 
must have seemed to Columbus a blank. All was dark; but it was the 
darkness that precedes the dawn. Within those walls, at a distance of 
but fifty yards, the star of hope was shining, and its first rays fell up- 
on Columbus when he met Fray Juan Perez, the guardian of the con- 
vent. 

If to-day, dear reader, you enter within those same walls, 3-ou will 
find that the convent consists of two cloisters, the first of which opens 
upon a court entirely covered with flowers, containing four cells, and 
the entrance to the church and sacristy. In the story above there are 
four other rooms which served as an infirmary to the ancient communi- 
ty. In the second cloister a large apartment called the hall of the De 
Profundis, the spacious and well-lighted refectory, and several cells 
attract your attention. Ascending by a double staircase to the upper 
story, your interest increases, for it was here that, the Discoverer of 
America spent many of his days, meditated, prayed, and laid his plans 
for the future. Here you behold, among ten or eleven Franciscan cells, 
the one occupied by Columbus himself, and that of his friend, Fray 
Perez. It was in this identical room of Columbus that Fray /ose Coll, of 
the Order of St. Francis, penned a portion of the work now lying be- 
fore us — certainly a fitting spot in which to derive inspiration for a 
work on the great mariner. 1 Here, as the author remarks, were held 
those conferences, whence proceeded the rays which, crossing the ocean, 

1 When we were at La Rabida, we were assured, and if our memory fails not, by the 
architect Velasquez himself, that the room occupied by Columbus is not known with cer- 
tainty. 



658 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



illumined half of the globe, thus far covered by impenetrable darknesSo 1 
The persons who met here were Columbus himself, Fray Juan Perez, 
the physician Garcia Hernandez, and probably Fray Antonio Marchena, 
and the mariner, Martin Alonzo Pinzon. Here the imagination beholds 
Columbus expounding his system, according to which the shortest way 
to India lay towards the West, while his companions listened to him with 
rapt attention. 

II you ascend to the observatory where Fray Marchena is said to 
have pursued his astronomical studies, your eye will wander over well- 
nigh the entire province of Huelva. Towards the East avast horizon 
will arise before you, and in the West your vision will stretch to the 
borders of Portugal, while the blue waters of the Atlantic to the South 
will melt into the skies. 2 

For the history of La Rabida we are indebted to a monastic chron- 
icle, composed, in 1714, by religious of the Order of St. Francis. The 
first temple on the spot, it states, w^as built during the reign of the Ro- 
man Emperor, Trajan, in the beginning of the second century, to the 
memory of Proserpine, a deceased daughter of that monarch, 3 divine 
honors having been decreed to her. Hardly had this worship been in- 
augurated when numberless calamities, especially the frightful malady 
of hydrophobia, befell the inhabitants of the neighborhood, so that 
Proserpine, who had at first borne the title of Goddess of Candles, re- 
ceived that of Goddess of Madness. Hence was probably derived the 
name of La Rabida. 

A Christian sanctuary was erected on the spot at the close of the 
third or in the beginning of the fourth century, and an ancient statue 
of the Blessed Virgin w T hich had been venerated on Mount Sion was pre- 
sented to it by St. Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem. The title under which 
the Mother of God had thus far been honored in this image had been 
that of Our Lady of Remedies, but it was now changed to that of Our 
Lady of La Rabida. This veneration of the Blessed Virgin at La Rab- 
ida was continued until A.D. 719, when, to shield the statue from the 
fury of the Mussulmans, the faithful cast it into the sea, not far from 
the coast. After this, the Mahometans took possession of the sanctuary 
of Mary, and placed the symbols of their worship upon its altar. These 
were, however, cast off by an invisible hand as often as they were re- 

1 The conferences were probably held in the large community room which is now 
known as the room of Columbus. 

2 The only observatory we found was the roof of the building, though there is a spe- 
cies of cupola above the church. 

3 Not to be confounded with the Goddess Proserpine of Grecian and Roman mythol- 
ogy. We must here remark that the historical value of the manuscript in question is 
not beyond the pale of doubt. 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABID A. 



G59 



placed, but the Mussulmans attributed this to the humility of their 
prophet. 

The manuscript before mentioned states that, at the beginning of 
the thirteenth century, the sanctuary of La Rabida came into posses- 
sion of the Knights Templar. • These did not, however, remain there 
long, for, in 122 1, it passed into the hands of the Franciscans. 

According to an oral tradition, the place was visited by St. Francis 
himself on the occasion of his journey through Spain and Portugal ; 
but, says our author, this statement appears doubtful, as no mention 
is made of it by the historians of the order. 

When the Franciscan Order became divided into the two branches 
of Observantines and Coventuals, the sanctuary of La Rabida remained 
in possession of the latter until the year 1445, when by order of Eugen- 
ius IV., it went over to the Observantines. While the convent was 
subject to the Conventuals it became greatly enriched by the munifi- 
cence of the faithful who flocked thither to honor the Blessed Virgin. 

On December 8th, 1472, twenty years before the discovery of Amer- 
ica, and twelve before the visit of Columbus to La Rabida, the ancient 
miraculous statue which had been cast into the sea more than seven hun- 
dred years before was, according to tradition, providentially recovered 
by some fishermen of the coast, and restored to the veneration of the 
faithful. 

It is at present kept, the greater part of the time, in the Church of 
St. George at Palos, and sometimes venerated on one of the altars of 
La Rabida. 

Tradition asserts that Christopher Columbus prayed before this im- 
age. And how could it have been otherwise? Could this man, whose 
heart was filled with such sentiments of piety, have spent any length 
of time in the sanctuary of Mary without pouring out the desire of his 
soul at the feet of her who is called " Star of the Sea?" Does it not 
seem providential that the statue was recovered at this particular 
epoch, as though the Blessed Virgin wished that the discovery of the 
New World should be effected under the auspices of the Queen of 
Heaven, as it was under those of an earthly queen, Isabella of Castile? 
This much is certain, that, on August 3d, 1492, the officers and crew of 
the three caravels, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina, went in 
procession to La Rabida to implore the assistance of Heaven and place 
themselves under the protection of our Lady of Miracles, the title by 
which the Blessed Virgin was there invoked. On the same day Co- 
lumbus made his confession to Fray Perez and received the Bread of 
Angels, his example being followed by the men under his command. 

Columbus first arrived at La Rabida, on his return from Portugal, 



660 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



as, in 15 1 5, the physician Garcia Hernandez testified, in the case insti- 
tuted against Diego Columbus. This overthrows the authority of 
those authors who would deny the visit paid, in 1484, to the Francis- 
can convent by the illustrious cosmographer. 

This testimony of Hernandez is confirmed by Ferdinand Columbus, 
who relates that his father, returning from Portugal in 1484, left his 
son Diego at La Rabida, whence he himself went to Cordova, where 
the court then resided. The same thing is asserted by Antonio de 
Herrera, and confirmed by Bartolome de Las Casas and the licentiate 
Villalobos. In two chapters, the author provesagainst Navarrete that 
Columbus visited La Rabida in 1484, and adds that he went there on 
three other occasions, namely, in 1491, in 1492, before starting on his 
perilous voyage, and, in 1493, on his return from the New World. 
The incidents of the first arrival of Columbus with his son Diego at 
the quiet abode of the friars have been so frequently related by his bi- 
ographers that we need not dwell upon them here. 

Treating of the chronological sequence of the events connected with 
the sojourn of Columbus in Spain, our author admits that historians 
find herein their greatest difficulty. Nevertheless, he endeavors to 
bring order out of chaos.. He accepts as a certainty that the flight 
from Portugal took place either at the end of 1484 or in the beginning 
of 1485, and cites in his favor Las Casas, Prescott, and Rodriguez Pin- 
ilia. In 1485, according to Las Casas, in i486, as other authors assert, 
Columbus arrived in Cordova. This latter date is the most probable 
one. But where was he from 1484 to i486 ? The answer is given in a 
letter written to Cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza by Don Luis de 
la Cerda, Duke of Medina Celi, who positively asserts that Columbus, 
coming from Portugal, had spent much time, amounting to two years, 
in his house. He thus arrived at La Rabida in 1484, thence w r ent to 
Seville in quest of the Duke de Medina Sidonia, and spent the remain- 
der of the time with the Duke of Medina Celi, until January i486, when 
he arrived at Cordova. In the winter of 1486-87 he made a journey 
to Salamanca. In 1488 we find him again at Seville ; in the following 
year he took part in the campaign of Baza, and in 1490 he was prob- 
ably once more with the Duke of Medina Celi. In 1491 he directed 
his steps to La Rabida, where he met his friend, Father Perez, and 
whence he proceeded to Granada. On May 12, 1492, having made 
satisfactory arrangements at the court of Isabella, he left Granada and 
proceeded once more to La Rabida to await the time of his departure 
from Spain for the voyage that has rendered his name immortal. 

Biographers of the great man to whom we owe the discovery of 
America, frequently speak of Fray Juan Perez deMarchena, his friend 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABID A. 



661 



and protector. Not the least of the services rendered to history by 
the work now under our consideration lies in the fact that its author, 
Fray Jose Coll, endeavors to prove that, under this name, two distinct 
individuals have been confounded. Garcia Hernandez, in the docu- 
ment already cited, says that there lived at La Rabida a friar named 
Juan Perez, confessor of Queen Isabella. The same name is given to 
the guardian of the convent by Ferdinand Columbus in the life of his 
father. Bartolome de Las Casas and Oviedo also call the friar simply 
by the name of Perez. 

The former author tells us also that a friar named Antonio de 
Marchena was the one who aided Columbus by persuading the queen 
to undertake the expedition, and Columbus himself, writing to the sov- 
ereign, says that no one, beside God, had ever helped him except Fray 
Antonio de Marchena. In a letter of the Catholic sovereigns to Co- 
lumbus, Fray Antonio de Marchena is recommended to him as a suit- 
able companion on his voyage, he being a good astronomer. That 
which is of still greater significance is that a document in the general 
archives of the Indies in Seville makes a distinction between a friar, arc 
astronomer in the convent of La Rabicla, and another friar who is 
called Juan. 

All who were acquainted with Father Perez, as Ferdinand Colum- 
bus, Garcia Hernandez, Las Casas, and others, speak of him simply as 
Fray Juan Perez. Lopez de Gomara, who wrote his Historia General' 
de Las Indicts in 1552, was the first to confound the two names and 
apply them to the same person, and his example has been imitated by 
many who came after him. 1 

Although our author seems to have made a profound study of the 
history of these two men, whose names are so closely linked to the dis- 
covery of the New World, and has ransacked various archives in quest 
of information, he confesses that a mist of obscurity envelops them, 
and that he is able to tell us little concerning their lives. According 
to him it was Antonio de Marchena, not Juan Perez, who was the dis- 
tinguished astronomer of La Rabida, versed in the natural sciences. 
Fray Perez was the one who offered the hospitality of the monastery 
to Columbus, and who was confessor to Queen Isabella. 

Fray Perez appears to have belonged to a noble family, and to have 
entered atan early age the service of hissovereigns, which he exchanged 
for that of his heavenly King by becoming a member of the Order 
of St.* Francis. His merit was such that Queen Isabella chose him for 

1 We think that the sifting of the arguments of Fray Coll would prove an interesting 
occupation for lovers of Columbian history. In this paper we merely present the opin- 
ions of the author of Colon y La Rabida. 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



her confessor, an office he held for some time, until, tired of the dis- 
tractions of the court, he obtained permission to return to the solitude 
of La Rabida, where he was soon elected guardian. 

Fray Marchena is said to have been born in the town of Marchena, 
of the province of Seville, but Father Coll tells us that he took person- 
ally the trouble to thoroughly search the archives of the town, with- 
out finding any mention of him. This, however, he adds, does not 
prove that he was not born there, for he must have come into the world 
about the year 1430, while the documents found at Marchena go no 
farther back than 1535. We know, says the author,that Fray Marchena 
was a wise, virtuous, and highly modest religious, who constantly, and in 
the mostactive manner, cooperated with Columbus, with whom, accord- 
ing to the testimony of Oueen Isabella, he was always in accord, and a 
man eminent for his knowledge of the natural sciences. 

Fray Perez, on the other hand, was a man who possessed a profound 
knowledgeof the human heart, and who was gifted with a spirit of incom- 
parable zeal for the propagation of the religion of Christ, together 
with an ardent patriotism. Heunderstood thoroughly the plan of Co- 
lumbus, entered into his views, and used all his influence to induce Isa- 
bella to accept the offer made to her by the intrepid mariner. He 
wrote to the queen on the subject, from whom he received an answer 
in fourteen days, inviting him to a personal interview. Columbus 
tired of long waiting, was about leaving Spain to turn towards France ; 
there was no time to be lost. That very night Fray Perez sprang in- 
to the saddle, and without companion or guide, riding off to scenes of 
fire and war, arrived at Santa Fe, the camp-city before Granada, saw 
the queen, and did not. return to his convent until he had obtained her 
promise to enter into negotiations with Columbus, who soon after re- 
paired to Granada, which had just capitulated. The result is known 
to history, and American civilization serves to-day as a constant re- 
minder of the long and solitary ride of Fray Perez from La Rabida to 
Santa Fe. 

The author cites a fragment of a letter of Fray Perez which, he says 
(probably by some oversight), was addressed to Isabella, but which the 
text shows could have been written to no one but Columbus. It 
sounds thus : 

" Our Lord God has heard the supplications of His servant; the wise 
and virtuous Isabella, touched by the grace of Heaven, received kind- 
ly the words of this poor little man. All has turned out well; far 
from rejecting our project she immediately accepted it, and now sum- 
mons you to the court to propose to you the means which you deem 
most adapted to put into execution the designs of Providence. My 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABID A. 



003 



heart is swimming in a sea of consolation, and my spirit exults with joy 
in the Lord. Leave as soon as you can, for the queen awaits you, and 
I do much more than she. Recommend me to the prayers of my dear 
sons and of your little Diego. May the grace of God be with you, and, 
may our Lady of La Rabida accompany you." 

This letter, says the author, which he believes to be authentic, 
ought to be written in letters of gold on plates of silver, for on it de- 
pended the success of the greatest event that the history of humanity 
registers. Without Juan Perez and Antonio de Marchena, he adds, it 
is doubtful whether Spain would have had the glory of discovering the 
New World ; for these two men were the firsts and most decided pro- 
tectors of Columbus. 

Having read the preceding pnges, the reader will naturally inquire: 
What is the condition to-day of the convent of La Rabida, and of the 
city of Palos ? As regards the latter, when Columbus first visited it, 
it contained 1,900 inhabitants; to-day this population has dwindled 
down to about 500. The harbor of Palos has entirely disappeared, as 
though the earth had opened and swallowed it, and the road which led 
to La Rabida has been neglected and it is now deserted. 

The convent was abandoned at the period when religious were driven 
away from their monasteries in Spain, and the church, the archives, the 
library, and the entire building, to the very trees that surrounded the edi- 
fice, were exposed to the w T anton recklessness of a mob which left 
ruin, wreck, and desolation behind it. In 1846, a royal decree set 
aside the old convent to be used as an asylum for disabled sailors of 
the Spanish navy, but this has never been carried into effect. Soon 
afterwards the number of visitors to La Rabida greatly increased, and 
loud murmurinsrs besran to be heard on account of the state of decad- 
ence into which the venerable relic of a glorious past had fallen. The 
attention of the government was attracted, and the consequence was that 
an order emanated from the throne, on August 5, 185 1, decreeing the 
destruction of the most ruined portion of the building, and the erec- 
tion of a monument on the spot. This decree, too, remained a dead- 
letter. Three years later the place was visited by the Duke de Mont- 
pensier and his mother, Queen Amelia, who, touched by the sight of 
the venerable ruins, began a subscription for the restoration of the 
building. The principal portion being restored, it was solemnly 
opened in the presence of the Dukes de Montpensier and de Nemours, 
and with a religious ceremony in the church. 

On February 23, 1856, the convent of La Rabida was, by royal decree, 
declared a national monument. Among the many persons who have 
since visited it were King Alfonso XII., who arrived there on March 



664 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, 



2, 1882, and the Infantas Isabella and Paz, who came on the 27th of 
the same month. 

Oar author asks: What shall the future of this venerable monu- 
ment be ? The reply is an appeal to the justice and sense of equity of 
the Spanish people for a restitution of the convent to its former and 
legitimate owners, the sons of St. Francis. 1 

It may be of interest to our readers to know that one of the illustri- 
ous families which aided Columbus still exists. Martin Alonzo Pin- 
zon, the senior partner of the Pinzon Brothers, ship-builders at Palos 
in the days of Columbus, commanded one of the three caravels which 
sailed in search of land in the West, namely the Pinta, and died the 
year after the discovery of America. He had his residence in the 
Calle de la Ribera at Palos. This family afterwards left that city and 
removed to Moguer, where they still abide, the present chief repre- 
sentative being Senor Don Luis Hernandez Pinzon, admiral of the 
navy. 2 

We may also rejoice in the fact that the name of Colon is still borne by 
the descendants of the man to whom America owes so much. The 
present Duke de Veragua is a lineal descendant of Christopher Co- 
lumbus. He will be the centre ot attraction at the coming celebration. 3 

For several years Spain has been preparing for the four-hundredth 
commemoration of the discovery of America, and, of course, one of 
the principal objects of its solicitude are the spots rendered illustrious 
by the events of 1492, La Rabida and Palos. Senor Don Canovas del 
Castillo, president of the International Congress ot Americanists, has 
distinguished himself by his energy in pushing forward the work. In 
the beginning of last year, Don Santos Isaasa, minister of the interior; 
Don Mariano Catalina, general director of public works; the Marquis 
de Aguilar, minister of agriculture ; Senor Sanz, chief of the superin- 
tendence of harbors, and Senor Velasquez, architect, proceeded to 
the Province of Huelva to make arrangements for the complete res- 
toration of the convent of La Rabida, in which the International Con- 
gress of Americanists will meet on October 7. A monument will also 
be erected on a convenient site to perpetuate the memory of Columbus. 

One of the acts by which the Spanish government will celebrate the 
quater centennial will be the holdingof an H istorico-American Exhibition 
in the city of Madrid, in which the state of pre-Columbian civilization 

1 The appeal has been graciously received, for on October 12, 1892, the Franciscans 
were once more placed in possession of their old home. 

2 He has since died, as I was told while in Spain, where I met one of the descendants 
of the Pinzons. 

3 He was not. At Huelva during the great festivities, he was conspicuous by his ab- 
sence, I know not why. 



COLUMBUS AND LA RABID A. 



GG5 



in the New World, and that which iollowcd its discovery, up to the mid- 
dle .of the eighteenth century, will be set forth. The attention of our 
country has been called to the fact, and it has thus far generously re- 
sponded, especially through its National Museum at Washington. 
Committees have been formed in the various consulates of the United 
States, under the direction of Senor Don A. G. del Campillo, general 
delegate for this country. Several men distinguished in American his- 
tory and archaeology have accepted the nomination. Right Rev. Bish- 
op Keane, and two Catholic priests, Rev. Thomas Hughes, of Wash- 
ington, D. C, and the writer, were also appointed members of local 
committees. We doubt not that all our clergymen will take an interest 
in the exhibition, as it promises to contribute greatly to the intelligent 
study of American history. 

We end this article with the words of our author : " May Heaven 
enlighten the minds of our rulers, that the memory of Columbus, to- 
gether with that of his inseparable friends and protectors, Perez and 
Marchena, may remain from henceforward more indelibly sculptured 
on marble and bronze, and still more on the hearts of their fellow-citi- 
zens. And God grant that the Spanish people and all t he nations 
across the sea who have been civilized by the Cross may emulate the 
wishes of those three, and always show themselves their worthy de- 
scendants, great heroes disposed to sacrifice all for their God, their 
country, and their religion." 




THE FIRST FRANCISCANS IN THE NEW WORLD. 1 



SINCE centuries various disputes have, at times, existed between re- 
ligious orders as to their relative merits in one or other respect. 
Thus the Carmelites, the Augustinian Friars, the Croisiers, and others, 
have fought strenuously in defence of their real or supposed antiquity, 
while others assumed the offensive. In regard to the question : Who 
was the first priest to tread upon the shores of the New World? Father 
Alphonsus Ramon, of the Order of Mercy, maintains that it was a re- 
ligious of his order. Father Coll, on the other hand, of the Order of 
St. Francis, attacks this opinion with bitter iron}% and assures us that 
the overwhelming weight of authority is in favor of the Friars- Minor. 

It has generally been taught and believed that the guardian of the 
convent of La Rabida, when Columbus arrived at its hospitable gate, 
was named Fray Juan Perez de Marchena. The first one thus to name 
him was Lopez de Gomara, who wrote his Historia General de las In- 
dias in 1552. A recent critical investigation by Fr. Coll, however, tends 
to prove that Father Perez and Father Marchena were two distinct in- 
dividuals, the former bearing the name of Juan Perez, the latter that 
of Antonio de Marchena. 2 

The question whether the first expedition of Columbus to America 
was accompanied by a priest, and if so, who that priest was, is open to 
discussion, and, it appears, nothing can with certainty be determined 
concerning it. It is remarkable that not one of the contemporary his- 
torians who speak of the voyage of Columbus, makes mention of a priest 
accompanying the expedition, and the Admiral himself observes a com- 
plete silence on the subject. However, this is only a negative argu- 
ment, against which we find a positive one resulting from circumstances, 
for it cannot be supposed that such a hazardous expedition, undertaken 
by a man of the staunch faith of Columbus, principally for the salva- 
tion of souls and under the auspices of the Catholic sovereigns, Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, would have been left without spiritual succor. The 
chroniclers of the Franciscan order generally maintain that their relig- 
ious were the first missionaries to say Mass in the New World, and 
that Father Perez or Father Marchena was among these first mission- 

1 Colon y La Rabida.— Fr. Jose Coll. 2 See the preceding article. 

666 



THE FIRST FRANCISCANS 18 THE NB W WOULD. CC7 



aries, but as their testimonies are far from being clear, and as they fail to 
distinguish between Perez and Marchena, they afford only a certain 
degree of probability. 

Sifting the testimonies of the Franciscans themselves, we find the 
following: first, Father Antonio Deza, in his General Chronicle of the 
Order of our Father, St. Francis, writes, that Father Juan Perez de Mar- 
chena and a companion, probably, accompanied Columbus on his first 
Voyage. From the context it appears that he means the one whom 
Father Coll designates as Father Perez, as distinguished from Father 
Marchena. He adds that the little hut in which Father Perez said 
Mass, on their arrival in America, was the first church of the Indies. 

Another Franciscan author, Father Juan del Olmo, in his Seraphic 
Tree, expresses himself in nearly the same manner. Father Gonzaga, 
also a Franciscan, speaks thus of the discovery of Hispaniola: " A few 
days after Columbus had taken possession of the island, our religious 
who had come over with a happy and prosperous voyage, 1 among 
whom was a certain Fr. Juan Perez, the same who with so many en- 
treaties had persuaded Columbus not to desist from the enterprise of 
the discovery, began the foundation of that province of Santa Cruz; 
and Father Juan Perez, who, as has been said, was the first, to enter 
this island, arranged an Oratory of branches, in which he said the first 
Mass and deposited the Blessed Sacrament, and this was therefore the 
first church of all the West Indies." 

Father Luke Wadding in his Annals asserts that Fr. Juan Perez de 
Marchena accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, together with 
other Franciscans. He adds that the hut in which he said Mass was 
the first church in the West Indies. It would follow from this that no 
priest had accompanied Columbus on his first voyage. 

Father Torrubia, another Franciscan chronicler, also asserts that 
Father Juan Perez de Marchena was the first to say Mass in Hispaniola. 
He says that a provincial, Father Villanueva, told him that, according 
to the provincial archives, Father Juan Perez de Marchena was the 
founder of the province of Santa Cruz in the West Indies, and that he 
had come over with Columbus in 1492. On the other hand a Fran- 
ciscan Martyrology says that Perez came over in 1493, thus in the 
second voyage. 

Turning to the testimony of others who were nor. Franciscans, we 
hear Fr. Juan Melendez, a Dominican, asserting that the first priests 
who crossed the Atlantic with Columbus were Franciscans, that Father 

1 The Latin word secunda used by Fr . Gonzaga may mean prosperous, or it may mean 
second. It has been translated in the first sense by Fr. Coll. In the other sense it would 
indicate that Fr. Perez came to America, not in the first, but in the second voyage. 



068 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



Perez de Marchena was among them, that they came over in the first 
voyage, and that the first Mass was said on the island of Guanahani. 
Father Mamachi, also of the Order of St. Dominic, is equally of the 
opinion that Franciscans accompanied Columbus in 1492. The Jesuit 
Father, Jerome Plati, is one of those who maintain that the Franciscans 
were the first missionaries in the New World. Father James Masen- 
ius, of the same society, also savs that Franciscans accompanied Colum- 
bus in 1492. An important witness is Juan Diez de la Calle, son-in-law 
of Juan Fernandez de Madrigal, secretary of King Ferdinand the Cath- 
olic. He himself was employed at the secretariate of the Indies. He 
writes thus: " The first one to build a church and say Mass there N (at 
Natividad in Hispaniola) was Fr. Juan Perez, of the Order of St. Fran- 
cis, Guardian of La Rabida." 

The Franciscan province of Santa Cruz in the West Indies wa*s erect- 
ed in 1505 by a general chapter of the order, held in France. The 
progress the Franciscans made in those distant regions was such, and 
their increase so great, that King Ferdinand made a law in 1 506, accord- 
ing to which henceforward Franciscan Convents in the Indies were to 
be at least five leagues apart. 



THE AUGUSTINIANS IN AMERICA IN THE SIXTEENTH 

CENTURY.' 

IT is certain that the Augustinians were among the early missionaries 
who, together with the Franciscans and the Dominicans, labored 
on the missionary field in the colonies of Spain in the New World. 
Grijalva, in his chronicle of the Order of Saint Angustin in New 
Spain, says that in Mexico they performed the duties of hospitallers, 
building hospitals together with their convents, and curing the bodies 
of the poor Indians, as well as their souls. Moreover they taught the 
Indians the art of agriculture and the exercise of various mechanical 
trades. 

One of the Augustinians who distinguished themselves by their zeal 
in this then so remote portion of the Lord's vineyard, was Father Nic- 
olas de Witte, a noble Fleming, related to the Emperor Charles V. He 
entered the monastery at Burgos on the very day which had been set 
aside for his wedding with a young lady of high degree. He afterwards 
went to the New World, where he devoted himself with the greatest 
zeal to the salvation of souls. 

Another Augustinian, Father Alfonso de Veracruz, was one of the 
principal founders of the University of Mexico. He was a man of vast 
erudition, versed not only in theology, sacred scripture, and canon 
law, but, also, in the natural sciences, and an expert in the most ar- 
duous diplomatic relations. Before entering the i\ugustinian Order, 
he had been professor at the University of Salamanca. His name of 
Alfonso de Veracruz he received from the fact of his having been in- 
vested with the Augustinian habit in the city of that name. This 
good man became an ardent defender of the conquered tribes. In his 
day the Indians were looked upon as of very inferior intellectual capac- 
ity, but he was the first to see in them sufficient understanding for receiv- 
ing all the sacraments, and, against the general contrary opinion, he 
decided to administer to them the Holy Eucharist. He labored hard 
to free them from the onerous duty of paying tithes, and for this he 
had to suffer much on the side of those who were of a contrary opin- 

1 From an article in No. 4 of El Centenario, Madrid, 1892, by Fr. Francisco Blanco 
Garcia, O. S. A. 

669 



670 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ion, and who forwarded complaints against him to the Emperor. Not- 
withstanding this opposition, his reputation increased to such an ex- 
lent, that, when the Bishop of Michoacan, Don Vasco de Quiroga, 
was obliged to leave for Europe, to assist at the Council of Trent, he ap- 
pointed Father Veracruz administrator of his diocese, while the Provin- 
cial of the Augustinians made him his Vicar. On the establishment of 
the University of Mexico he became professor of scholastic theol- 
ogy. Four times he was elected Superior of the order in that coun- 
try, and three times he was nominated bishop of as many dioceses, 
a dignity which he declined to accept. 

At that period there existed a dispute among the bishops and the reg- 
ular clergy in Mexico, as to whether the latter should exercise the 
care of souls in the parochial ministry. Father Alfonso was sent to 
Spain in the interest of this matter, and he worked so well with Philip 
II., that a Bull was obtained from the Holy See, authorizing the relig- 
ious to exercise the parochial ministry, notwithstanding decrees of the 
Council of Trent. 

In the midst of his other labors, Father Alfonso found time to com- 
pose several works which show the depth and breadth of his intellect. 
In order to promote a love of study among the members of his order, 
he established the college of St. Paul, in which a select number were 
to be educated, and he enriched it with a large library, besides various 
mechanical, astronomical, and nautical instruments, and scientific curi- 
osities of various kinds. 

Father Veracruz was, for his day, what at present we would call a 
man of strongly advanced opinions. He seems to have greatly freed 
himself from the shackles of traditional methods. The Spanish Inqui- 
sition was then in full vigor. Fr. Luis de Leon, a poet and theologian, 
had been cited before it on account, of certain scientific propositions of 
his which were deemed scandalous by persons of, perhaps, narrow judg- 
ment. When Father Veracruz heard of these propositions, he ex- 
claimed : ''If they burn him, they ought to burn me, for I believe as 
he says." Thosemusthave been hard times, indeed, when a man ran a 
risk of being persecuted for his opinions, no matter how innocent. 
Such are the extremes into which humanity is liable to fall. 

About this epoch, there was living an Augustinian, by name Andrew 
de Urdaneta. He had been a sea-captain, and he was considered an 
experienced navigator, but he had renounced the bustle of a seafaring 
life and scenes of war, in order to enter the cloister. When Philip IL 
determined to colonize those islands of the Pacific which have since been 
named after him, strange to say, he cast his eyes upon a humble Au- 
gustinian to be the leader of the expedition, alter three attempts at 



A UG USTINIANS IN AMERICA IN THE X VI. CENT [J R 1 \ 071 



colonization had previously been made in vain. The orders of his 
Superiors caused Urdaneta to accept, the charge which the king had 
imposed upon him, and, at the head of five vessels, he sailed from Navi- 
dad on November 21, 1564, for the Western Isles. Michael Lopez de 
Legazpi was the immediate chief of the expedition, but he allowed 
himself to be entirely guided by the Augustinian, and, entering into 
his spirit, he resolved never to make use of violence, except 'in the 
most absolute necessity. 

On their first landing at the Philippine Islands, they conciliated the 
Indians and gained their confidence, but, through the intrigues of the 
Portugueze of the Moluccas, this peaceable condition was of short 
duration, and the natives broke out into open hostilities. This caused 
Father Urdaneta to return to Spain to lay before the eyes of the king 
the great obstacles which impeded the success of the expedition. He 
sailed across the almost unexplored Pacific to Mexico, and from thence 
to Spain. On this occasion he made a map, which for many years 
served as the only guide for sailors on the Pacific. 

Legazpi continued his work of colonization, and by dint of patience 
and gentleness he finally succeeded, and gained the affection of the 
Indians. The missionaries penetrated as far as China, where horrible 
persecutions awaited them. 

At the time of the conquest of Peru by Pizarro, when the thirst for 
gold and cruelty, bent upon extermination of the unfortunate Incas, 
seemed to have absorbed every other interest, twelve Augustinian 
missionaries, fortified by letters patent of Charles V., endeavored to 
inaugurate an era of peace, but their attempts aborted. The Augus- 
tinian Friars, working in the midst of a corrupt and licentious people, 
became brilliant examples of every virtue. They penetrated into the 
woods, and crossed the mountains, seeking the poor savages whom 
they had come to evangelize, while, in the cities, they endeavored by 
word and example to recall to a sense of duty the perverse Spaniards. 
When they departed to the various provinces assigned to them, the 
Augustinians received orders to accept from tfye Indians neither gold, 
silver, nor any other metal, but only vegetables, thus giving the Indians 
to understand that the religious sought not their wealth; like the other 
Spaniards, but only their souls. From the officers of the king they 
were permitted to receive only that which was absolutely necessary. 
No one was allowed to take servants from among the neophytes, and 
every morning and evening they were to give instructions in Christian 
Doctrine. All these missionaries had gone to Peru of their free choice, 
and some, like Fathers Balthasar de Melgarejo, Antonio Baeza, and 
Juan de Vivero, were of illustrious lineage, and they had renounced 



672 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



large fortunes in order to devote themselves to a missionary life. The 
latter converted the Inca, Sarai Tupac, and he was largely instrumental 
in forming the laws of Peru. As a reward lor his services he was 
named Bishop of Cartegena and, afterwards, of Chuquisaca, but God 
called the saintly religious to a better reward, one beyond the skies. 
More than one Augustiilian died a martyr. Mention is especially made 
of Fathers Marcos Garcia and Diego de Ortiz. The Inca, Tupac- Amaru, 
who had caused the death of Father Diego de Ortiz, was himself later 
condemned to die. An Augustinian, Father Augustine de Coruna, Bish- 
op of Tapayan, exerted himself to the utmost to save the unfortunate 
man, but in vain. However, he gained his soul for God, and the 
Inca received the sacrament of Baptism before exchanging time for 
eternity. 




REV. BERNARD HAFKENSCHIED. 



THE MISSION OF THE REDEMPTORISTS IN AMERICA. 



IT is an indubitable fact, attested both by Philosophy and Faith, that 
back of all human events there is a mysterious cause whence those 
events ultimately proceed, and by which they are regulated. This 
great and first principle in the government of the world is that Divine 
Providence which men, unfortunately, too often fail to see, but which 
to a reflecting mind is traceable midst all the vicissitudes of history. 
Viewed in itself it can only be productive of good results, as it is 
identified with the Infinite Goodness, but, nevertheless, the existence of 
evil effects are too plainly visible around us. To understand why 
these exist, we must remember that Divine Providence makes use of 
many secondary and instrumental causes which, being finite, may fail 
to produce the desired results. Evil is then traceable, not to the first 
cause, but rather to the weakness of the instrument. In course ot time, 
however, Divine Providence rectifies all things, and draws good from 
evil. When now I speak of the mission of any person or society, I 
mean the work allotted to them by Divine Providence, or the place 
they occupy as secondary causes. To discover their mission and the 
good or evil results which have proceeded from their work, we need 
only critically examine their history, which is the record of their 
actions. 

Among the many secondary causes which Divine Providence has 
used in the government of the world, the religious state has been one 
of the most powerful. The benefits which society has derived from it 
are incalculable, although it has also, accidentally, been productive of 
evil results, which proceeded from the weakness of humanity. 

During the decline of the Roman Empire, society had degenerated, 

and Christianity itself had lost much, of its first fervor. Men of thought, 

considering the evils which threatened a decaying society from the 

dissolution of morals, the weakness of princes, and the incursions of 

the barbarians, fled from it as from a hotbed of corruption, and gave 

themselves up entirely to the practices of the spiritual life. Their 

number rapidly increased, and thus were laid the foundations of the 

monastic state. God made use of it to remind men of eternity, and 

the voice sounding from the wilderness recalled many to their duty. 

1 Lecture delivered by the author in St. Alphonsus' Church, New York, 1891. 

673 



674 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



In its early days, monasticism .preached more by its example than by 
its words. When, however, the old order of things had been over- 
thrown, and barbarism had swept civilization beforeit, it became neces- 
sary for the monastic life to mingle with society, and the great Bene- 
dictine Order thus saved European civilization from destruction. If 
we continue to follow the course of human events, we shall see that 
for each particular epoch God raised up religious orders, adapted to 
times and circumstances, each with a special mission. 

In the last century, there lived in the kingdom of Naples a priest, 
descended from a noble family, whose heart was touched by the sight 
of the gross ignorance and utter abandonment in which many of the 
country people lived in southern Italy. He felt a higher call ; he con- 
secrated himself to the service of the most abandoned souls, he gath- 
ered around himself a band of disciples and became the founder of 
the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. I speak of Saint Al- 
phonsus de Liguori. In a prophetic vision he saw that his congrega- 
tion was destined to spread over the world, and even to reach the 
shores of America. His prophecy has been verified, and to-day, more 
than a hundred years since his death, the Redemptorists form numer- 
ically the third religious order in the United States ; the Jesuits being 
the first, and the Benedictines the second. It is quite natural that we 
ask ourselves the question : what have the Redemptorists done for 
America, and what are they destined to do? 

As I reflect upon the history of the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer in this country, it seems to me that it may be divided into 
three periods. The first, lasting from 1832 to 1839, ma y ^ e called its 
pioneer or unsettled epoch. The second, from 1839 to ^50, is that of 
its labors among the German population, while the third, from 1850 
to the present day, a period of more than forty years, is that of its 
general development and missionary labors. A study of these three 
periods will show us the sphere of the activity of the Redemptorists, 
and allow us to form our conjectures for the future. 

In the year 1832, the Catholic hierarchy had been established in the 
United States for nearly half a century, and the Church had gone on 
steadily increasing in numbers with the increase of immigration from 
Catholic countries, especially from Ireland, Southern Germany, and 
Rhenish Prussia. The population of the United States was then some- 
what more than 12,866,000, of which about half a million were Catho- 
lics. The hierarchy consisted of one archbishop, ten bishops, and 
nearly 250 priests. 

In the beginning of the century, the only religious in the United 
States, if we except the Sulpicians, were the Jesuits, and these were 



THE MISSION OF THE REDEMPT0E1STS IN AMERICA. G70 



mostly in Maryland. In the year 1832 there were in this country, be- 
sides the Jesuits, also Lazarists, Dominicans, and Augustinians. 

A few years before this, Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati had sent his 
Vicar-General, Rev. Frederick Rese, to Europe to obtain assistance for 
the American missions. Having arrived at Vienna this priest made 
the acquaintance of the Fathers ol the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer, which had been brought into Austria by Blessed Clement 
Hoffbauer, who had himself once expressed the desire of going to 
America, and who died in 1820. Father Rese called upon Father Jo- 
seph Passerat, then Superior of the Redemptorists outside of Italv, a 
man of eminent sanctity, and requested him to send some of his Fathers 
to America. The man of God, having earnestly besought light in 
prayer, came to the conclusion that Divine Providence had ordained 
this mission, and he accepted it. Fathers Saenderl, Haetscher, and 
Tschenhens were deputed to undertake it. They arrived at New York 
on June 20, 1832, and said their first Mass in the Church of the Holy 
Cross, in Ann street, on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Having reached 
Cincinnati, contrary to their expectation and also to the spirit of 
their vocation, the Fathers were assigned to different stations far from 
one another, and many years elapsed before they were enabled to form 
a regular community. 

If now we examine those years, years of constant activity, we may 
reasonably ask ourselves: what were the results of their labors? The 
author of the Annals of the congregation in America says that they al- 
most labored in vain ; but I prefer to see in their disagreeable situa- 
tion the hand of Providence, which was marking out for them their fu- 
ture labors in the New World. What did the Fathers accomplish dur- 
ing all those years, from 1832 to 1839? They were blamed for their no- 
madic life ; but their Superior in Europe beheld the conduct of Divine 
Providence in their tribulations, and foretold that they would establish 
their first house in America, when St. Alphonsus would be canonized, 
and this actually took place. Of course, it is impossible to know what 
might have been, nor is it always an easy task in history to connect 
effects with causes. Notwithstanding this, however, we may form 
conjectures. Suppose that the Redemptorists, from their first arrival 
in America, had been able to establish a foundation, they would imme- 
diately have been reduced to the rank of ordinary parish-priests, for 
of a mission-house such as there existed in Europe, there could then be 
no question. This would have been still less in accordance with the 
spirit of their rule, than the life which circumstances forced them to 
lead. Had they remained in New York, or established themselves in 
Cincinnati, their labors would have been circumscribed by the limits 



676 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of their parish, outside of which their influence would hardly have been 
felt, and God only knows how many years might have elapsed before 
they could have accepted another foundation. As it was, their life, 
though isolated, was a missionary one, and not without precedent in 
the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. They were brought 
into contact with the country at large, they became known to the bish- 
ops, while they themselves were enabled to study the wants of the 
Catholic population in various parts of the land. And, certainly, dur- 
ing those years of wanderings, their labors were not fruitless, and, 
whether we find them laboring am on 2: the Germans of Ohio and New 
York, the French of Wisconsin, the Indians of Northern Michigan, or 
the cholera-stricken patients of Detroit, we behold them laboring ac- 
cording to the spirit of their vocation for the most abandoned souls. 
They were sowing the seed of which others were to reap the harvest. 
Their very wandering life became the means of their being enabled to 
accept three foundations nearly at the same time, while it obtained 
their first novice, the servant of God, John Nepomucene Neumann, af- 
terwards Bishop of Philadelphia. 

The year 1839 was a glorious one for the Congregation of the Most 
Holy Redeemer throughout the world, for it witnessed the canoniza- 
tion of St. Alphonsus ; it also, as Father Passerat had foretold, beheld 
the first regular foundation of the Redemptorists in America. Now 
began a new period in their history. The Congregation of the Most 
Holy Redeemer had been instituted to labor for the most abandoned 
souls. In the year 1839 there was no class of Catholics so much de- 
prived of spiritual aid as the Germans. For years there had been a 
steady influx of Germans into this country. Between the years 1820 
and 1839, tnat is > during a period of 19 years, no less than 108,420 Ger- 
mans, not counting those from Prussia and Switzerland, most of whom 
also spoke German, had emigrated to America. If we compare this 
number with that of those who came from other parts of continental Eu- 
rope, we shall find that the Germans formed the great majority. Dur- 
ing the same period of time there had come from France 39,826, from 
Italy 2,466, and from Holland 2.085 emigrants, and of these last, of course, 
very many were Protestants. When now we take into consideration 
that a very strong proportion of the German emigrants had come from 
the Catholic parts of Germany, and that German priests were few, we 
shall see that it is by no means an exaggeration to state that in 1839 there 
was no class of Catholics in America so much deprived of spiritual aid 
as the Germans. Up to the year 1833, there had been no German priest 
in New York; it was only in 1835, that Father Raffeiner took charge of 
persons of that nationality. Continual difficulties, however, forced him 



THE MISSION OF THE RED EM P TORI ST 8 IN AMERICA . G77 



to take up his abode in Williamsburg, while the German parish in New 
York remained in a very troubled condition. From a letter of Arch- 
bishop Hughes, dated in 1841, we learn that he had too few German 
priests in his diocese, and could find none to take the place of Father 
Neumann, who had joined the Redemptorists. From the same letter 
we learn that there were more than 5,000 German Catholics in Balti- 
more. 

In the fact that the first Redemptorists were of the German tongue 
we find clearly the finger of Divine Providence, for it was their very 
nationality which enabled them to labor for these most abandoned souls 
precisely at a time when German priests were most needed. It is a fact, 
that, in the very year the Redemptorists came to America, German im- 
migration began to increase rapidly. As far as we are able to learn from 
statistics, up to the year 1832, the highest number of Germans who in 
one year had come to America was 2,395, but, in 1832 their number 
suddenly rose to 10,168, while in 1845 the annual increase began to 
assume much stronger proportions. We may then conclude that the 
Redemptorists were providential for that particular period of our 
history. As soon as they saw their way clear they began to assume 
charge of the Germans, who, without their aid, would most undoubt- 
edly have fallen away in great numbers from the Church. 

Bishop McQuaid at the Council of Baltimore, speaking of the causes 
of defection from the faith, says : 

" But the main cause of defections must be looked for in the years 
from 1784 to 1834, and be attributed to the scarcity of priests and 
churches. Bishop England, of Charleston, in a letter to the Society 
of the Propagation of the Faith in France, estimated these losses at 
three millions and a half at the time of his writing, in 1839. ^ e 
gives, however, no trustworthy data on which to base such a conclu- 
sion, and I cannot but consider it as greatly exaggerated. Yet it must 
be confessed that the number of those that lost the faith, or, that, hav- 
ing no means of hearing the word of God and of receiving the help- 
ing graces of the sacraments, lapsed into indifference, is startlingly 
great. Even when parents never apostatized, their children succumbed 
to the influence of their surroundings, and learned to despise and deny 
the belief and practices of their parents' religion through the adverse 
and malignant pressure of companionship and daily intercourse with 
revilers of Catholic doctrines." 

Would not these words have also found application in the Germans, 
had no timely assistance been given them ? 

The Redemptorist Fathers began to establish German parishes in 
Pittsburg, Rochester, Baltimore, Buffalo, New York, Detroit, Phila- 



678 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



delphia, and even in distant New Orleans. Their work among the 
Germans was so great that they even began to be considered a Ger- 
man order. Some of the early Redemptorists in America were, per- 
haps, a little ultra German ; but even that, I think, was permitted by 
Divine Providence for a wise purpose, as it held them to the work for 
which at that time they were most especially needed. 

But the time had now arrived when the congregation in America 
was to enter upon its third period, its period of expansion. The Re- 
demptorists had thus worked almost exclusively for the Germans since 
1832. It is true they had also labored for the French and Irish, but 
this work was nothing when compared to what they did for the Ger- 
mans. Henceforward, like true followers of the most Holy Redeemer, 
they were to seize upon the opportunity and labor for all nationalities. 
In 1848, the two first English-speaking novices in this country were 
admitted to their profession. One of these was the well-known Father 
Duffy, who died at Chatawa, Miss., in 1874. Both these religious were 
natives of Ireland. Soon after, several other Americans entered the 
congregation and began to labor on the American mission. Foremost 
among these was the late Father Isaac T. Hecker, who died Superior 
of the Pau lists. Thus far the Redemptorists in America had no Pro- 
vincial of their own. From 1844 they had been attached to the Belgian 
province. In the year 1850, however, they received their first Provin- 
cial. This man, Father Bernard Hafkenscheid, a native of Amsterdam 
in Holland, was one of the most remarkable men who ever entered the 
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Every inch a missionary, he 
was indeed powerful in word and work. The special vocation of the Re- 
demptorists is to work for the salvation of the most abandoned souls by 
the giving of missions and retreats. It was to this work that their 
founder, St. Alphonsus, had devoted the greatest part of his life. 
This work, too, had been encouraged by Blessed Clement Hoffbauer 
in Poland, and it was being energetically continued by the Redemp- 
torists in various countries of Europe. Father Bernard himself had 
been the soul of the missions in Belgium and in his native country. In 
America, thus far, the Fathers had not been able to devote them- 
selves to it; but it was to be thus no longer. It is true, occasional 
missions had been given ; for instance by the Fathers in Michigan 
where the saintly Father Francis Poilvache had too soon consumed 
himself in the service of his neighbor. But this missionary activity 
had been limited. It was Father Bernard who was to give impulse 
to it. Missions were hardly known in the United States, and it is to 
the Redemptorist Congregation that the credit of having introduced 
them is due. The Jesuits and others had conducted spiritual 



THE MISSION OF THE REDEMPTORISTS IN AMERICA. 679 



exercises, but missions in the true sense of the word were introduced 
by the Redemptorists, as we read in the Memoirs of Rev. Father 
Baker. The first mission on a large scale given in this country 
was that preached in St. Joseph's church, New York, in April, 185 1. 
From that day to this, missions have increased in number all over the 
United States, and the example set by the Redemptorists has been im- 
itated by the Jesuits, Passionists, Lazarists, Paulists, Dominicans, 
Oblates, Augustinians, and others. Father Bernard himself, to whom 
the credit of having inaugurated the work of the missions is principally 
due, gave at least sixteen missions in this country. Three of these 
were preached in New York, namely in St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, and 
St. Patrick's. Other missions he gave in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, 
Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, Saratoga, Albany, Troy, and Richmond, 
Va. When this wonderful man had returned to his own country, 
the work he had begun was continued by Fathers Hecker, Wal- 
worth, and other Redemptorists. And when five of these mission- 
aries had left the Redemptorists, to found an independent congrega- 
tion of their own, the work went on under the direction of other Re- 
demptorists, who while contending with great difficulties, were singu- 
larly blessed by God. I can safely say that at the present day the 
Redemptorists have given missions in every State of the Union from 
Maine to California, and that, not only in English and German, but al- 
so in Dutch or the language of Holland, in French, in Bohemian, and 
even in Italian. 

If now you ask me again: what have the Redemptorists done in 
America? I reply in two words: They have preserved the faith of a 
large portion of the Catholic German population ; they have begun and 
continued successfully the important work of the missions. The 
churches they have erected in most of our large cities speak to you elo- 
quently of their work. In the three Provinces which they now possess on 
the North American continent you may count at least thirty-two houses 
from Quebec to New Orleans. In New York they have four, and in 
Baltimore five. Would you know what they have done? Ask the 
numerous parishes where they have given missions. They will speak 
to you of singular conversions, of piety revived, of societies instituted. 
And were all secrets known, we should hear of so many sacrileges re- 
paired, of so many wonderful changes of heart. But the manifestation 
of these secrets is reserved for God's own day. 

If now we try to pierce the dark mists of the future, we ask : What 
will the Redemptorists do hereafter? I am not a prophet, but the 
history of religious orders gives me a clue to the answer. If the Re- 
demptorists remain faithful to the spirit of their Founder, observant 



GSO 



HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



of their rule, and united among themselves, they will be one of the 
most powerful religious organizations in this country. When I say 
that they will be powerful, 1 mean in a spiritual sense. When I 
speak of the spirit of their Founder, 1 mean that spirit of all-embracing 
zeal, which excludes none, but works, above all, for the most abandoned 
souls, seeking no earthly emoluments, but only the greater glory of 
God and the welfare of immortal souls. And what shall the spe- 
cial work of the Redemptorists be? I answer: the work for which 
they were instituted, — the organized and judicious preaching of mis- 
sions for the revival of faith and piety, a revival never more needed 
than to-day. That is their mission in America. 



INDEX OF ORDERS AND CONGREGATIONS 



A. 

Adoration, Congregation of Per- 
petual 425 

Adoration of Reparation, Con- 
gregation of 594 

Alcantara, Knights of 216 

Alcantara, Reform of St. Peter 



of. 



Bon Secours of Troyes, Sisters 



of. 



Page 



584 



Brigittines l8s 

Brigid, Sisters of St 605 * 

Bufalists 



490 



2 39 

Alexians 318 

Andrew, Knights of St 219 

Angelicas 364 

Ann, Daughters of St 594 

Annunciade, Knights of the 219 

Annunciades, Celestial 406 

Annunciation, Order of the 266 

Antonines 316 

Assumption, Ladies of the 581 

Augustine, Hermits of St 305 I 

Augustinians, Discalced 310 j 

Augustinian Nuns 313 I 

Augustianians in America, in 

XVI. Century 669 

Avis, Order of 217 

B. 

Baptistines 482 

Barnabites 360 

Bartholemites 623 

Basil, Monks of St 77 

Basiiians 486 

/ Beguins 606 

Benedictines 88 

/ Benedictine England 642 

Bethlemites 345 

Blood, Sisters of the Precious... 601 

Bon Secours, Sisters of 575 

681 



C. 



Calatrava, Order of 216 

Camaldoli lx 3 

Camillus de Lellis, Order of St. 397 

Canons Regular ^ 

Canonesses Regular 169 ( 

Capuchins 244 

Carmelites 284 

Carmelites, Discalced 293 

Carmelite Nuns. . .' 297 

Carmel, Third Order of Mount, 304 

Carthusians 153 

Celestinians 147 

Cellites 318 

Charity, Sisters of Our Lady of, 427 

Charity, Sisters of 446 

Charity, Brothers of 489 

Charity, Institute of 514 

Charity of Jesus and Mary, Sisters 

of 563 

Charity of Nazareth, Sisters of. . . 570 

Charity, Sisters of, (Irish) 572 

Charity, Sisters of Christian, .... 600 

Charles, Sisters of St 544 

Christian Doctrine, Congrega- 
tion of 436-438 

Christian Schools, Brothers of 

the 455 

Christian Brothers, (Irish) 488 



682 



INDEX OF ORDERS AND CON GREG A T ION is. 



Page 

Christ, Order of 217 

Church, History of the 1 

Cistercians 127 

Clares Poor, (see Franciscan 

Nuns.) 

Clerics, Regular 354 

Conception, Order of the. ...... 265 

Columbanus and Columba, 

Saints 108 

Companions of Jesus, Faithful. . 574 

Coventuals, Friars Minor 242 

Croisiers, or Cross Bearers 188 

Cross, Congregation of the Holy. 499 

D. 

Doctrine, Brothers of Christian, 506 
Doctrine, Brothers of Christian, 

(Nancy) 5°7 

Dominicans 271 

Dominican Nuns 278 

E. 

Eudists 617 

F. 

Family, Brothers of the Holy 510 

Family, Sisters of the Holy 560 

Family, Sisters of the Holy, (New 

Orleans, La.) 585 

Franciscans 220 

Franciscan Nuns 249 

Francis, Third Order of St... ... . 253 

Franciscans in the New World... 666 

G. 

Gabriel, Brothers of St 509 

Gaul, Early Saints of Monastic. 52 
Genevieve, Congregation of St... 171 

Good Works, Brothers of 515 

Government, Monastic 52 

Grandmont, Order of 150 

Greek Monks 84 

Grey Nuns 55° 

Guastalines. , 364 

H. 

Habit. Monastic. 46 



Page 



Hearts, Congregation of the Sa- 
cred., 484 

Heart, Brothers of the Sacred 502 

Heart, Ladies of the Sacred 554 

Heart, Missionaries of the Sacred. 531 
Heart of Mary, Sisters of the Sa- 
cred 552 

Heart of Mary, Ladies of the Sa- 
cred 599 

Heart of Mary, Sisters of the Im- 
maculate, (U. S.) 537 

Holy Ghost, and the Immaculate 
Heart of Mary, Congregation 
of the 525 

I. 

Incarnate Word, Order of the 414 

Institute of the Blessed Virgin, 

or of the " English Ladies/'. . . 539 
Instruction, Brothers of Christian. 508 
Ireland, Monastic Saints of 113 

J. 

James, Order of St 217 

Jeronymites 328 

Jesuates 336 

Jesus Marie, Congregation of.. . . 573 
Jesus and Mary of Montreal, Sis- 
ters of 593 

Jesuits 37° 

John of God, Hospitallers of St. 340 
Joseph, Hospitallers of St... ... . 426 

Joseph, Sisters of St 542 

Josephites 497 

Joseph, Society for Foreign Mis- 
sions of Saint 631 

Joseph, Society of St. (U. S.)... 634 
li. 

Labors, Monastic 39-4° 

La Rabida 656 

Las Huelgas, Royal Monastery 

of 652 

Lateran, Regular Canons of 168 

Lazarus, Knights of St 218 

Lazarists 44 1 



INDEX OF ORDERS A 
Page 

Loretto in the United States, 

Sisters of 568 

Loretto, Ladies of 540 

M. 

Malta, Knights of 202 

Marbach, Congregation of 172 

Marmoutier, Holy Places of 73 

Marists 492 

Mary, Company of 458 

Mary, Brothers of St 530 

Mary, Little Brothers of 499 

Mary, Institute of 498 

Meen, Priests of St 530 

Mendicant Orders, Reflections 

on 351 

Mercy of Jesus, Sisters of the... 431 

Mercy of Seez, Sisters of 576 

Mercy, Sisters of 577 

Mercy of Montreal, Sisters of... 595 

Mercy, Order of 180 

Michael, Knights of the Wing of 

St , 218 

Minims 268 

Minors, Regular Clerics 400 

Mission Helpers 638 

Monasticism, Earliest days of... 62 
Monasticism, Great Saints of 

Primitive 66 

Monks, Influence of Early 115 

Monte Oliveto 147 

Monte Vergine 144 

Mother of God. Regular Cler- 
ics of the 402 

Mother of God, Congregation of 

the r 542 

N. 

Notre Dame, Congregation of. . . 190 

Notre Dame, Daughters of 409 

Notre Dame of Montreal, Con- 
gregation of . 546 

Notre Dame of Namur, Sisters of. 565 

Notre Dame de Sion ^qi 



ND CONGREGATIONS. 683 

Page 

o 

Oblates of St. Frances 534 

Oblates of St. Frances, Colored, 

(U. S.) 536 

Oblates of St. Ambrose and St. 

Charles 620 

Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 422 

Oblates of Mary Immaculate 494 

Oblates of the Blessed Virgin of 

Pignerole 511 

Observantines 229 

Observance, Friars Minor of the 

Strict 235 

Oka, a Visit to .... 141 

Oratorians 607 

Oratorians of Jesus.. 613 

Oratory of the Immaculate Con- 
ception 614 

P. 

Pallotti, Congregation of Father. 626 

Passionists 463 

Paul, Hermits of St 326 

Paul, Regular Clerics of St 360 

Paulists 628 

Picpus, Congregation of 484 

Pious Schools, Regular Clerics 

of 402 

Pious Workers 615 

Poor, Little Sisters of the 582 

Premonstratensians 173 

Presentation, Sisters of the 432 

Presentation of Mary, Sisters of 

the 553 

Property, Monastic 49 

Providence, Sisters of 561 

Providence of Montreal, Sisters 

of 580 

R. 

Redemption of Captives, Order 

of Mercy for the 180 

Redemptorists 466 

Redemptorists in America 673 

Redempf or istines 48° 



INDEX OF ORDERS AND CONGREGATIONS. 



Page 

Reforms, Monastic 24 

Refuge, Congregation of Our 

Lady of 411 

Regular Canons 165 

Rosminians 514 

Rules, Monastic 24 

s. 

Sacrament, Missionary Priests of 

the Blessed. 453 

Sacrament, Congregations of the 

Blessed 532 

Sacrament, Sisters of the Most 

Blessed 533 

Sauveur Bon, Congregation of 

the 549 

Saviour, Regular Clerics of Our. 435 

Servants of the Sick 397 

Servites 319 

Somaschi 367 

Spain, Monasteries in 644 

Sufferings, Monastic 58 

Sulpicians 624 

Sylvestrins 144 

T. 

Templars, Knights 209 



Teutonic Order. 

Theatines 

Theatine Nuns. . 

Trappists 

Trinitarians. 



IT. 



Union des Sacres Cceurs, Sainte. 
Ursulines 

V. 

Vallombrosa 

Viateur, Clerics of St 

Victor, Congregation of St 

Virgin, Sisters of the Faithful, 

Visitation, Order of the 

Vows, Monastic ... 

W. 

Williamites 

Windesheim, Congregation of. 
Wisdom, Daughters of 



X. 

Xaverian Brothers. . 



Page 
213 

2 54 

357 

135 
176 



572 
388 



124 
5i6 
170 
572 
417 

3° 



144 
172 

46 T 



5'8 



LB My 13 



r 



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